The Warriors Arena
by Tubbyman
Summary: I don't like Nintendo's story for SSB, so I decided I'd write one of my own. Chapter 15 is up. R&R PLZ! Thanks to Liandra Hyros for pointing out several mistakes I made, I've fixed most of them. Chapter 16 coming soon.
1. Invitations

Disclaimer: I did not invent any of the characters mentioned below. I own the copyrights to nothing, and this story is merely a workings of the inner reaches of me own mind.

You may also notice that this story was submitted by another author by the pen name of The Angelic. Well, we are one in the same. I had some computer problems a few years ago and my internet stopped working. When it was brought back online, it wouldn't let me log back on to this site. So, I ask the administrators of this site not to book me for posting this, I assure you that I am The Angelic.

Well, based on my reviews, I owe you people nine chapters. I've been a long time in posting (it's been years) so I'll give ye' extras a' plenty. Enjoy!

**The Warriors Arena**

Chapter 1

Invitations

Link stepped to the Great Hall in Hyrule Castle. He looked to the throne, kneeled, and spoke, his head still lowered. "You called me, Princess?" he asked.

Zelda stood. "Yes, I did. I wanted to let you know, you have been invited to a tournament to test your blade against opponents of great strength," she said. "We know some of them personally, but there are others I have never heard of."

"A tournament, is it? I will gladly go to test my mettle against any opponents who try to stand against me, and hope only to defend the honor of Hyrule!" Link shouted, springing to his feet. He was excited to be able to fight worthy opponents at last.

"Calm down," Princess Zelda commanded. "Pack your bags, for you leave at sunup."

"Yes, princess!" Link shouted, placing one hand over his chest and bowing. He then moved off to the stables to get Epona ready to ride.

Kirby sat under the apple tree. He was snoozing very happily, dreaming of large cakes and ice cream and all sorts of such goodies. He was starting to dream about a lollipop when he received a rude awakening.

"You've got mail!" a cheerful little bird told him. It had a mailman's hat and a bag of mail slung around its shoulder. Kirby didn't exactly speak the best English, so he simply nodded in understanding. The bird reached inside its bag and pulled out a single letter. It was in a fancily decorated envelope, and Kirby took it and carefully opened it, making sure not to destroy the pretty encasing it was in.

The bird flew off as Kirby opened the folded paper. He began to look over it, and then remembered one thing: He couldn't read. He trudged back to town to get someone to read the letter for him.

Peach rushed downstairs to see who was at the door. "Oh, my! Who is it?" she asked.

"It's 'a ME, Mario!" a very Italian voice told her.

"What do you need?" Peach asked, throwing the door open.

"Is 'a Luigi here?" Mario asked.

"Yes, I think he's upstairs," Peach told him. "What's going on, anyway?"

"I have 'a no time to ex-'a-plain!" Mario told her. He ran upstairs, shouting "Luigi! Luigi! I've 'a got good 'a news!"

Luigi looked down the stairs. His brother was hardly ever this happy, so something incredibly good must have happened. Maybe Bowser had kicked the buket? "What's 'a happening?" Luigi inquired.

"We've 'a been invited!" Mario shouted.

"In-'a-vited to what?" Luigi asked.

"Look 'a dis letter, stupido!" Mario said, flinging the paper into Luigi's face. Luigi read the letter. His eyes bulged, and he hugged Mario. The two started prancing happily about in the main hall, dancing with each other.

Just then, Peach walked up the stairs. She took one look at the brothers happily dancing around and sweat began to form on her brow. "What's... going... on?" she asked.

Ness looked at the paper in his hands. He had just gotten back to Earth, and really didn't feel like going off again. However, this opportunity seemed too sweet to pass up. "Mom!" Ness shouted.

"What is it?" Ness' mom answered.

"Come here real quick!" Ness pleaded.

"You come here!" his mom shouted.

Ness trudged up the stairs to find his mom. "Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm in here!" his mom answered.

"Where is here?"

"In your room!"

"MOM!"

"What?"

"How many times to I have to ask you to stay out of my room?"

"Sorry, Hun, now what is it?"

Ness handed the envelope to his mom. He gave her a chance to look it over. "Can I go?" he asked, at length.

"Sure, I don't see any problems with it," she said.

"Thanks, Mom!" he shouted, as he ran down the stairs. His mom tried to tell him to be back in time for supper, but Ness was already long gone by then.

Fox Mc. Cloud stood on the bridge of his ship. He was reading a message that had come on his view-screen. "A tournament, eh?" Fox said, "I think I'll miss it."

"Miss it?" Falco said. "Why would you do that?"

"It looks boring," Fox replied, casually.

"Boring?" Slippy asked.

"Getting to fight in a tournament like this isn't exactly what I would consider 'boring.'" Falco stated.

"Fine, fine, set a course," Fox said, irritably.

DK sat in his Jungle Tree-House. Suddenly, his nephew, Diddy, charged through the door. "Hey, Unc, guess what I found?" he shouted. DK grunted. "Look!" he said, slapping the paper on the table. DK grunted again and peeled a banana. He ate it, then peeled another and ate it.

After he had eaten a whole bushel of bananas, he went over to the table and looked, confused, at the paper. He looked at his nephew in a "What the heck is this?" kind of way. Diddy picked the paper up and read it to his uncle. When he was done, DK's eyes were bulging, and he was rampaging around the tree-house, knocking an assortment of novelties over.

Diddy Kong chased his uncle for half an hour before DK went inside and started eating bananas again. Diddy, however, didn't see him go in, and continued 'chasing' his uncle for another fifteen minutes. Finally, he got the idea that his uncle wasn't outside any more and went in, just in time to see DK leave for the tournament he had been invited to.

Ash Ketchum was walking down the path, on his way to win yet another badge on his endless quest for all the gym badges. Pikachu was at his side. Ash was, as normal, bragging about his greatness, Brock was looking at a guide to the beaches of the next city, and Misty, not falling out of her usual routine, was complaining. What they didn't know was that they were being stalked...

As Pikachu rounded a corner, someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him into the bushes. Pikachu tried to cry out for help, but a puffy hand covered his mouth. Pikachu tried to see who was behind him, but Jigglypuff showed herself, giving him the "SHH!" sign. Pikachu spoke in his own poke-tongue to ask what was going on. Jigglypuff answered him in her poke-tongue, then showed him the invitation she had received. Pikachu let out a shout of excitement, but was silenced again by Jigglypuff. Ash couldn't know this was happening. Silently, they snuck off to the tournament together.

Kirby wandered for what seemed to be hours. Finally, he found himself in the middle of a high way. He was ready now to give up and go back to the apple tree. Just as he was about to turn around, a blue car ran him over. It screeched to a halt, and the top popped open. Out stepped Captain Falcon, who was on his way to the next F-Zero Grand Prix. He ran to Kirby's side, wondering what he had just killed.

Dazed, Kirby got up. He staggered around for a few minutes. "You 'aight?" Captain Falcon asked him. Kirby nodded, then picked up his letter. He gazed at it for a moment, then looked up at Captain Falcon, then back at the paper, then at Captain Falcon again. He continued on with this routine for several minutes. "You 'aint okay, are ya'?" the Captain asked. Again, Kirby nodded, and then handed the paper to Falcon.

"What the..." Falcon began. He looked down at Kirby, who was obviously waiting for something. "What do you wan'?" Kirby floated up and tapped on the paper, then tapped on his mouth. "Um..." the Captain said, unsure of what to say. "I'm guessin' you can' talk," he stated. Again, Kirby nodded. "Tha' usually means 'ya can' read, either." For the fourth time, Kirby nodded. "So, you must wan' me to read this," the Captain concluded. Kirby happily shook his head up and down, then fell to the ground in dizziness. Captain Falcon picked up the letter and read it.

Dear Mr. Kirby,

We here at the Game World Arena are hosting our annual tournament. You have been selected as one of the participants in this honorary event. We would be humbled if you would choose to come.

Sincerely,

Roy, President of the Game World Arena

PS: Directions to the arena may be located on the back of this letter.

"This soun's intrestin'," the Captain said. Kirby was dancing around making freakishly high-pitched noises, flipping and cart wheeling all over the pavement. Another car whizzed by, flattening him again. He got up, shook off, and hopped into Falcon's car. "You wan' me ta' take 'ya?" Falcon asked. Kirby nodded. "Awe, shucks. I'm gonna' miss warm-ups!" Kirby's eyes glistened, as though he were on the verge of tears. "Awe, screw warm-ups! I'm gone!" Falcon concluded. He hopped into the car, and Kirby gave a squeal of joy. The Captain put the petal to the metal and sped toward the Arena.

Samus Aran fired her weapon. She turned and sped from the giant Metroid that was chasing after her. It was the biggest one she'd ever had to destroy. She jumped down a ravine, laying a mine there. The Metroid hit it and kept flying at her.

At length, Samus finally got to her ship. She turned the engines to maximum burn, and the fire that erupted from the ship enveloped the Metroid, catching it on fire. Samus sunk back in her chair, relaxing. The ships computer spoke to her. "You've got mail!" the voice informed her.

"I've really got to switch from AOL. That voice is so annoying," Samus said, making a mental note. "Display the message," she commanded. A letter popped up on her screen.

Dear Mrs. Aran,

We here at the Game World Arena are hosting our annual tournament. You have been selected as one of the participants in this honorary event. We would be humbled if you would choose to come.

Sincerely,

Marth, President of the Game World Arena.

PS: Coordinates of the arena have been attached to this E-Mail.

"This sounds too tempting to resist," Samus told herself. "Computer, set a course!" she barked. This would be fun.


	2. Arrivals

Chapter 2

Arrivals

Captain Falcon sped through the forest, struggling with the map printed on the back of the letter. He swerved to the right, barely missing a tree. In fear, Kirby leapt on Captain Falcons head, gripping as tightly as he could. His hands were enclosed over Falcon's eyes.

"Ah! Stop that!" Falcon shouted. He struggled to get Kirby off of him, but his patience faded quickly. He backhanded Kirby as hard as he could in the side. The great puff let out a squeal, smashed into the windshield, bounced off and collided with Captain Falcon's head... HARD. Captain Falcon saw a blur for a few moments. When he finally re-gained his vision, the thing that came into sight was a large wall. "AAH!" Captain Falcon screamed, as he pulled a hard right. He slowed for a while, and then sped off to the right. Falcon looked down at his map. "Well, we needed 'ta take a righ' turn, anyways," he said, trying to justify the mistake to himself.

Captain Falcon looked over at Kirby. He was out cold in the passenger seat. "Sleep tigh', lil' guy," Falcon muttered, as he fastened Kirby's seat belt.

Epona panted heavily as she and Link raced through the forest. The sun was almost at its peak. "Almost noon," Link commented. At this rate, he'd be very late. He spurred Epona on, shouting out words of both anger and urgency.

Link heard something crash through the forest. "What's that?" he asked himself. Epona began to hesitate in her movements, placing each step more ardently then she normally would have. "Something's not right," Link told himself. His iron will allowed him to keep riding instead of trying to figure out what exactly that was before continuing on.

Suddenly, something came crashing through the trees behind them. Link turned to see exactly what it was... and he saw a giant hand chasing him. "Oh my God..." Link muttered. He foundered for a moment, and then turned to see a low-hanging branch right in his way. It hit him in the face and knocked him to the ground. Link turned to face the hand, which was several times as big as he was. He drew his sword and waited for it to make the first move.

Samus' ship shuddered under another blast. "Damn it! Damage report!" Samus commanded.

"We're losing power, fast," the computer told her.

"How far 'till we reach the destination point?" she demanded.

"Roughly ten earth miles," the computer told her.

"Can we last for another thirty seconds?" Samus wondered.

"Not if we take another direct hit," the computer responded.

"Ok then," she said. The lights on her com channel blinked on. She knew who it was. Slowly, she went over to see if her pursuers had anything to say past the standard "Identify your self!"

Fox Mc. Cloud starred at the view screen. Eventually, the bounty hunter in red armor appeared on it. "You ready to tell us what your business really is or do we have to keep beating it out of you?" he asked.

The bounty hunter answered, "We already told you! We're going to the same tournament you are!"

"That doesn't quite explain why you were doing illegal hunting in the Brinstar system," Fox replied, coolly.

"Sense when was killing Metroids illegal?" Samus demanded.

"I don't really think you were hunting Metroids," Fox said, arrogant as ever.

"Fine then, don't believe me! You'll see when we get to the tournament!" she shouted. "I expect a written apology and enough money to fix the damage you've done to my ship when we get there, too!"

"If you don't want to cooperate, it's fine with me," Fox said, terminating the com link. "Fire another round at him," Fox commanded.

"Aye, 'sir.'" Falco responded, hitting the trigger. Another blast hit the hunter's ship. This time, the hit was a fainting one, just off the side.

"We'll get 'em," Slippy stated.

Mario and Luigi rode over the forested mountains. Yoshi was pounding his way down on the final stretch to where "Mr. Roy" told them the arena would be. Some movement caught the attention of Mario's glance.

"What's 'a that," he asked.

"Beat's 'a me," Luigi answered.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi shouted, as he peeled off to the left.

"What 'a you doin'?" Luigi shouted.

"Turn 'a youself back! 'A stupid lizard!" Mario agreed.

Yoshi growled with anger, then stopped abruptly, slamming both of them into a tree. Mario and Luigi both fell off of Yoshi's back, holding their heads. Yoshi sped on, leaving them behind, to go see what all the noise and motion was.

After about ten minutes of running, Yoshi spotted a horse, on which a green-clad elf was riding. Suddenly, a gigantic glove came out of the woods from behind them. The elf turned to look at it, muttered something, turned and got a face full of branch. He got to his feet as fast as he could, drew his sword, and waited for what was coming next. Yoshi sped off to get Mario and Luigi. They'd know what to do!

Captain Falcon followed the path he had been sent on by the map, and was beginning to wonder if he was reading it correctly. He heard Kirby stirring beside him, and was glad to know that he wasn't hurt... badly...

Captain Falcon stopped the car and tried to match up the map with the place where he was. He studied the map for a good fifteen minutes. Kirby, now fully awake, came over to Falcon and looked at the map. Then, he looked at the forest where they were. He gave a squeal and a chuckle, took the map from Falcon's hands, turned it 90 degrees and put it back in the Captains hands. He then proceeded to fall on his back and roll around in the passengers seat laughing.

"I knew that," Falcon stated, blushing. The map matched the place where he was perfectly, now. He turned to his left and tried to find the trail he was supposed to be on.

Kirby jumped as a huge crash sounded from their right. He and the Captain both looked over to see a giant gloved hand running through the woods. "What the..." Falcon asked himself, and Kirby gave off a shout of fright. Falcon caught more movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to it, and found a man in green riding full tilt away from the hand. "He'll never outrun that thing with a horse!" Falcon shouted. He swerved to the right. Kirby looked at him, shocked. "Well, I can't just sit here! We've got to DO something!" Falcon informed him. When he looked up again, the man in green was struggling to his feet. He drew the sword he wore around his back and took a defensive stance.

DK huffed and puffed as he ran through the jungle. He would normally have been pooped by this time, but the rush of adrenaline that came to him at the thought of fighting gave him endurance. He continued stomping onward toward the direction he thought he needed to go. Reading maps wasn't exactly his forte.

DK heard something crash just ahead of him. A puzzled look came across his face, and he leapt to the trees to get a better look. A massive hand was standing in what seemed to be a face-off with what appeared to be a human holding a sword. DK couldn't see very well from this distance, but he didn't need to. He knew all he needed to know. That hand was bigger then he was... And that made him angry... He began swinging through the trees to beat this new threat down to the dirt, where it belonged.

Jigglypuff and Pikachu both jumped. Something behind them had just come crashing down. They looked behind them to see a huge hand chasing a poor man dressed in green. Pikachu began to dash off and help the poor lad, but Jigglypuff shouted in poke-talk and grabbed him from behind again, pulling him into a bush. Pikachu struggled to escape from the giant balloon's grasp, and Jigglypuff decided to sing him to sleep. Pikachu went out like a log.

As Jigglypuff looked on, the boy re-twisted his body to proper alignment and was immediately smacked in the face by a branch. He stumbled to his feet and drew his sword, ready for whatever would come next. Just as abruptly as the monster had begun running, it stopped. If it had a set of eyes, they would have been glaring at the boy. It was obvious that the creature meant business as it stood before its adversary.

Just as the creature was about to move, a car sped in from the left. The top opened, and out jumped what she thought was a fellow Jigglypuff and a man dressed in what she thought was a pilots uniform. Looking closer at the two, she found that the puff was, in fact, not of the Jiggly, but something different. The 'Pilot' was the famous Captain Falcon, star racer in the F-Zero Grand Prix. Jigglypuff couldn't wait to get his autograph.

The hand stopped and re-evaluated the situation. It had two new enemies, but both were extremely small. It tried to laugh, but then realized that it had neither lungs nor a mouth. In anger, it prepared to charge for his initial opponent. Then, it stopped.

Three more dots had appeared to his right, one red and two green. It tried to roar in distaste, but was again displeased to find that he could not. Besides, even if he could, his breath would have been cut short. Something hit it from behind. It staggered forward one step, and then turned to see what had the nerve to hit him. A brown dot stood below him. This had to be a joke! So far, seven little dots were trying to fight him. In two movements, he could squash them all!

Two more dots emerged from a bush, one yellow and one pink. So the victim count was up to nine. He could still crush them all in two swift motions, but it sounded like fun to fight them THEIR way.

Ness had been floating for what he was sure had been hours. He was currently hovering over a forest, staring down to see what he could see. He whizzed over a white object surrounded by several colored dots, then turned and took a closer look. The massive white object was clearly a hand, and it was swinging its fingers wildly at the dots. The dots dodged, jumped and swarmed around the hand. Ness decided to float down and take a closer look.

When he got closer, he could see plainly that there were four humans, one monkey, two balloons and one rat all swerving and evading and leaping at the hand. One human carried a sword, and he slashed at the hand with it continually, pausing only to land or dodge an attack. The other three humans, the monkey and both balloons were leaping at the hand and making some solid connections with it. The rat was hurtling itself through the air, throwing random bolts of electricity at the behemoth.

The shadow of another movement caught Ness's eye. A miniature dinosaur leapt at the hand and kicked it as hard as it could manage. The attack barely seemed to have any affect on the hand. The white glove simply swatted the dinosaur away with its thumb like a fly. It smashed hard into the ground.

Ness watched the battle for several more minutes, and then decided the most human thing he could do at the time was swoop down and help bring the beast down. He flew low over the hand and shot out his own form of electricity, his PK Thunder.

Samus cursed under her breath. "We can't take this much longer," the computer told her.

"Naw, do 'ya think?" Samus shouted, enraged. She punched various buttons on the control console, but couldn't seem to get the engines to cooperate fully with her. They had finally shaken Team Fox, but they were in very bad shape.

Her view screen picked up another ship floating toward her. "Zoom in on that," she commanded. The computer complied. An Arwing was coming in at her, full throttle. "Perfect," she muttered.

Fox was beginning to doubt his decision to leave the ship and give chase on an Arwing. That cruiser looked a lot bigger in person then it did on the view screen. "No," he muttered to himself, "I did the right thing. After all, we couldn't just ignore the S.O.S. we received. I had no choice."

A light on the dash board flickered to life, indicating that Fox had the hunter in his sites. He smirked, and then fired a volley of bursts directly into the hunter's engine. Smoke billowed from the engine, and the craft began to lose altitude. "A job well done," Fox muttered, as he peeled off and kept heading for the arena.

"NO!" Samus shouted, as her ship began to fall. She saw her view-screen go out. "I'm flying dark now, too. Just perfect!" Samus shouted.

"The odds of survival in this situation are well over one hundred to one," the computer informed her.

"How encouraging," Samus muttered.

"Glad to be of service," the computer stated.

"Shut up and get me landing gear!" Samus demanded.

Something bumped against the bottom of her ship. At first, Samus thought she had landed, but then, the bump was gone again. No, they had hit something, and hit it hard. What was it?

Link looked up in awe as the great machine sped past. He then looked over at the giant hand, which the ship had been quick to dispatch with a quick bump from its bottom. The hand was on its back now, and was struggling to get up. Now was his chance to finish the thing off! He leapt to the palm of the beast and shoved his sword into it, pulled it out, then shoved it in again at a different location. The people who had strangely turned up to help him soon got the picture, and jumped upon the beast, attacking it with everything they had.

Finally, the beast managed to roll over and get back to its feet. Or rather, managed to get back to its fingertips. This was a bad situation. Link knew that the hand could just squash them where they were if it just flopped down...

Apparently, the hand knew that too. Link could see its fingers starting to give way, but before it could actually squash the lot of them, a huge blast of... well, Link had no idea what it was, but the giant, blue orb seemed to be absorbed by the hand quite well. It flew back, trying to keep its footing. It fell to its back again and stopped moving.

Link waited a few moments to make sure the thing was dead, sheathed his sword and panting, and threw himself on his back. He rested for a few moments then sat up. A person in red armor had walked over and joined the group. A look of obvious confusion came over Link's face. "Who are you?" he asked the strangers.

"So, you're Fox Mc. Cloud," Marth said.

"That's me," Fox stated, irritably.

"Well, come with us. We'd like you to meet the other contestants," Roy commanded.

"They're all here, then?" Fox asked.

"Yep," Roy replied.

"I knew that hunter wasn't one of them!" Fox shouted.

"Actually," Marth remarked, "she is."

"What? But... I just shot her... wait a minute, HER?" Fox demanded.

"Yes, her. And we already know you shot her down. We saw the ship crash just as plainly as you did. Now, are you coming with us to meet the contestants or not?" Roy asked, his patience running low.

"Yeah, I'm comein'," Fox growled.


	3. The Hands

Chapter 3

The Hands

Marth trudged through the woods. He had seen Samus crash and heard a loud boom, but he had also heard a loud boom about two seconds after. He wasn't sure, but he thought one of THEM had been involved.

When he had voiced his opinion to Roy, he had been told to stop worrying so much. As far as he knew, there was only one of THEM left, and it was sealed behind the sacred door... which reminded him why he had started this tournament in the first place. Looking back on all the details, Marth hoped that Roy was right. Another one of THEM in this dimension meant that a lot of bad things had happened.

Link looked around. He recognized Mario, Luigi and Yoshi, having fought beside them on one of his adventures, but the rest were strangers to him. The pink one with a ballad head was staring at him. "Who are you?" Link asked.

"He can' exac'ly talk," Falcon informed him.

Link turned to Captain Falcon. "Who are YOU, for that matter?" he asked.

"Me? I'm Captain Falcon, star 'a the F-Zero Grand Prix. Now, who 'r YOU?" Captain Falcon responded.

"They call me Link. I am the champion of Hyrule," Link told him.

"I ain' never heard of no 'Hyrule,'" the Captain informed him.

"I've never heard of your F-Zero Grand Prix. I've never heard such atrocious English, either," Link countered. Mario chuckled, and Falcon scowled.

Kirby looked over at the Captain. He looked angry. Kirby wondered why. He saw Jigglypuff looking over at him, so he waved both arms over his head, stood up and shouted "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIII!" Sweat began to form on Jigglypuff's brow as she looked at him, and she began to wonder what he was on.

"Jig jiggly jiggy jig?" Jigglypuff asked him. Now sweat began to form on Kirby's brow as he wondered what she was on. He walked over toward Captain Falcon, just so he could make sure he was safe if the balloon got a bit violent.

"Well, come on!" Luigi said. "We're 'a bein' wanted at the 'arena, ya?"

"Yoshi!" Yoshi shouted in agreement. DK grunted.

"I think the arena is off that way," Link said, pointing behind him.

"Here 'a we go!" Mario shouted, as the 'band wagon' got moving.

"We're getting close," Roy said.

"Good," Marth replied.

"How much further?" Fox said, still angered.

"Not far," Roy stated.

"How can you tell?" Fox asked, angrier then ever.

"If you'd stop complaining and listen, you'd hear their footsteps too," Marth told him, getting a bit angry himself.

"You'd also hear a car engine and hoofs banging against the earth," Roy stated.

Roy thought again about what Marth had proposed. He had shrugged it off as paranoia, but you could never be sure. It could very well be that IT had escaped and gotten its hands... that is, its body... on something it could manipulate. If that were true, there could be hundreds of them by now. Perhaps even thousands.

Roy shuddered at the thought. "What's eatin' ya', guy?" Fox asked.

"It's nothing. And please call me Roy," Roy replied.

"Touchy, touchy, touchy! You need to relax," Fox told him.

"I've got a lot to think about," Roy stated.

"Fine," Fox said.

Kirby looked straight on, speaking gibberish and swinging his arms as he went. A great smile would have been plastered on his face if his mouth hadn't been busy babbling, but Kirby was simply to happy to be moving toward the arena to stop himself. "Would you jes' shut up?" Captain Falcon asked him. Kirby looked over at him, wondering what was wrong. He tilted his 'head' sideways, trying to figure Falcon out. "Gawd!" Falcon shouted. "I jes' HAD ta' get stuck with a talkin' balloon!" he shouted. Kirby looked away, a red flush coming over his whole face. He stuffed his 'hands' in his 'ears' before he got even angrier.

Link rode on through the trees. The woman, or at least she said she was a woman, sitting behind him was trying to make conversation with him. "So, tell me about your greatest adventure," Samus said, still quite taken with Link.

"It's a long story," Link assured her.

"We've got time," Samus told him.

"No," he said, smirking, "We don't." Marth and Roy were growing in the distance. Link knew who they were, but had never actually met them. He slowed his horse and prepared to stop.

"It's 'a Roy!" Mario shouted.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi shouted, gleefully.

"Let's 'a go!" Luigi said, as they continued to grow.

"Piko piko?" the yellow rat said, as it tried desperately to hang on to the side of Yoshi's saddle.

"Yoshi?" Yoshi asked in confusion. The rat breathed a sigh of insufferable pain. Jigglypuff floated along behind them, somehow managing to keep up. DK sprinted as hard as he possibly could, trying his best to keep up as well.

Finally, the caravan of heroes stopped. Marth and Roy stood in the path ahead of them, not ten feet away anymore. Link dismounted and walked over to them, leaving Samus still on the horse. "I'm here," Link said.

"So you are," Roy stated.

"I want my written apology now," Samus demanded. Behind her helmet, she was glaring at Fox. "And my money," she finished.

"Sod off," Fox said, glaring back. "I'm keepin' what's mine until you can make me give it up!"

"That can be arranged very easily!" Samus shouted, leaping off the horse and toward Fox. Marth held his sword out between the two.

"You'll have plenty of time in the arena," he said.

"There's an idea! I'll give you your money, IF you can beat me in the tournament!" Fox shouted.

"It's a deal!" Samus shouted back. Neither had the will to allow themselves to lose.

At length, the group made it to the grand arena. A huge wooden building stood at its rear, somewhere from eighty to one hundred yards from the arena. In front of that was the building in which the showers and changing rooms were. In front of that, a great stone wall rose fifty feet into the air, and was at least five hundred feet in diameter. There were only two gaps in the wall, the front door and the back door, both of which were huge double doors made from oak.

Roy led them all inside the walls. There were bleachers rising all the way from ground floor to the fifty foot top. There was a large space that the seats hung off of. Link guessed that was the place audience members moved about buying food and getting to their seats.

Link's gaze was immediately taken off the seats when he saw the arena. A three-hundred-foot by three-hundred-foot arena made of stone blocks stood in the center of the stone circle. It was lined with steel, which came off in stairs at some points. He stood for a long time, his jaw dropped, looking at the splendor of this place.

"You like it?" Roy asked him, snapping him back to the present.

"It's... fantastic..." Link replied. A chorus of agreements followed those words.

Marth smirked. "I'm glad. This is where you'll be doing most of your fighting."

"Most? Where 'r we gunna' do the res' of it?" Falcon demanded.

Roy smirked. "Follow me," he commanded. They went outside the arena, into the building with the locker rooms. Roy gave them the grand tour, starting on the ground floor and ending with the roof. There was one area on the roof that interested all the fighters: A fenced off area with eight archways inside. Link was the first to ask about it.

"What's that?" he asked.

Again, Roy smirked. "Those are the Warp Gates," he informed them. "Wanna' take a closer look?" he asked. Yes's and nods flooded in around him. Roy's smirk turned into a broad smile. "Let's go, then," he recommended.

Roy unlocked the door and stepped inside. Lights automatically appeared from the ceiling, but there were no lamps or bulbs. "How..." Mario began.

"Magic," Marth answered him.

"You know magic?" Link said, impressed.

"Not extensively, but we have connections," Roy said. "This spell came from a scroll."

"Oh," Link said. His gaze shifted to the eight archways. One was bound in chains. "What's that?" Link asked.

"That's the Sacred Door. We're not opening it until we have a champion," Roy told him, his face going from happy to grim.

"Sacred... what?" Link asked. Marth and Roy exchanged glances. Both nodded, and began their story.

"About two years ago, Marth and I found this place," Roy said. "At the time, it was running wild with a race that called themselves 'Hands.' They looked exactly like giant, white hands. More like gloves, actually."

"That was when we held our first tournament," Marth continued, "But the matches were interrupted by the Hands so often that we had to cancel."

"With a LOT of help from some friends of ours, we were able to clear out all the Hands but one..." Roy started again.

"The Master Hand," Marth finished. "We were only able to defeat that one by sealing him away in an alternate dimension."

"We didn't know what to call it at first, but eventually, we decided to call it the 'Final Destination,'" Roy told them.

"Why's 'a that?" Luigi wondered.

"Because when we name a champion, he goes in there to have a duel with it," Marth answered him.

"You see, we need to defeat the thing before it escapes," Roy told them. "So far, nobody we've put up against it has been able to beat it."

"That's why ya' hold these tournaments? To find someone 'at can beat the livin' heaven outa' Master Hand?" Captain Falcon asked.

"Yes, that about sums it up," Marth said.

"Well, I think that the others and I have already done that," Link said. "You said that these hands look like giant gloves, correct?"

"Exactly like giant gloves," Roy assured him.

"Yep, that's the one we beat," Link told him.

"Aren't we quite the hero today..." Fox grumbled.

"Are ya' tryin' 'ta get kill'd?" Falcon asked him, "'Cus you managed 'ta make enemies with jes' about everyone here!"

"Hey, Mr. 'F-Zero Champion,' you want a piece of me?" Fox demanded.

"'Ya see what I mean?" Falcon asked.

"Calm down," Link said.

"Don't tell ME what to do, pointy!" Fox hissed.

Link walked slowly and menacingly toward Fox. "We'll settle this in the arena, you great bag of bull crap," he said. He then walked over to the sleeping quarters to get some sleep.

"What did he just call me?" Fox demanded.

"'A bag 'a crap," Mario informed him, and he coolly walked toward his room to sleep as well. Fox gapped at the nerve it took to call HIM, the LEADER of the FOX TEAM, a bag of crap! Fox would show him. He'd show them all when he defeated Master Hand!

One by one, the fighters started filing out of the warp-gate room to their quarters. They had all been through a lot that day, and in the morning, as Marth and Roy informed them, they would be drawing lots to see who would be fighting who when.


	4. The Day Before

Chapter 4

The Day Before

Kirby woke up. He looked over at his clock. It was ten. No biggie. He had all the time in the world to sleep. After all, he WAS in Dream Land.

But wait...

Something pulled at the back of Kirby's mind. What was it? Wait a minute, he wasn't in dream land after all. He was at the tournament. Silly him. But... Wait a minute... the TOURNAMENT? Oh, dear Lord, it was ten 'o clock! Kirby leapt out of bed. The drawings would have started by now! He was late!

Kirby rushed down the stairs and threw open the main door. He floated over the "Fighters building," as it was called, and then landed on the other side. He dashed as fast as he could toward the fifty foot walls of the arena.

Kirby could see the large cube that had hung over the stadium before, but this time, lowered down to the arena floor. The basic schematic of a 12-man tournament was displayed on it. So far, Link had taken the four spot and Yoshi had the eight. All the other slots were numbers. There were many lines showing how the winners of the matches would progress on up to the champion slot. But wait a minute... Yoshi hadn't been invited! Why was HE on the board? Kirby's confusion was furthered when Captain Falcon appeared in the number twelve spot. He dashed onward to figure out what was going on.

Kirby burst into the arena, screaming in terror. He rushed as fast as he possibly could to the bleachers where his friend, Captain Falcon, was sitting. Marth looked over from the computer he was working, and Roy looked away from Mario, who was up drawing a number. "Kirby, you're late," Roy told him. Kirby blushed and looked down at his feet.

"Please take a seat with everyone else that's waiting," Marth asked, politely. Kirby looked over at the others, who were staring at him. Ness suppressed a laugh, and Samus was slightly shaking. Fox never even gave the slightest attempt to stifle his laughs, bursting out in hysteria. Kirby glared at him. If looks could kill, Fox would've been dead.

Roy continued calling out names and numbers. Mario took number one, Luigi took six, Fox took twelve, Samus took nine(much to her disappointment; she had wanted 11), Ness took three, and so on.

The next days matches would be Mario(1) vs. Pikachu(2), Ness(3) vs. Link(4), Jigglypuff(5) vs. Luigi(6), Kirby(7) vs. Yoshi(8), Samus(9) vs. Captain Falcon(10), and DK(11) vs. Fox(12). The matches, they were told, would begin the next morning, and continue until match three was over. Then, there would be an hour intermission, after which matches 4-6 would start. So, Kirby had all day today and part of tomorrow to practice. Yoshi was going down!

Link stood in the woods, training for his match with Ness the next day. He held his sword out in front of his face and began his routine. First, he leapt to the trees, jumping from the side of one to the side of another, slicing off branches he had previously marked off by color. First, he cut a yellow one, then a green one at least three trees away, then a red one at least five trees away, then another yellow one, and so on until the trees were cut bare. When he was through with this, he allowed himself to fall to the ground. He landed on one foot, then placed his knee softly, but swiftly, beside it. He thought for a few moments and decided he could be satisfied with the amount of time he had taken to finish.

A voice beckoned out to Link. "Hey, there," Samus greeted. Link looked up from his kneeling position to see who had called him.

"Hello," Link said, standing up.

"How're things?" Samus asked.

"Fine," Link said. "How may I help you?"

"Well, I'm short a training partner," Samus stated. "Seeing how we're not exactly going at it tomorrow, I was hoping you could fill the empty slot."

"A practice match?" Link asked.

"Yes, a practice match," Samus told him.

"Where and when," Link asked.

"How about here and now?" Samus asked. Link smirked.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Ready?" Samus said.

"Set," Link continued.

"GO!" they shouted, in unison. Samus fired a rocket at Link. Link waited for it to get close to him, then fell to his back and kicked it in the side, making sure not to impact the warhead. Link then jumped to his feet and dashed, as fast as he could, at Samus.

As Link approached, Samus fired off multiple shots from her main cannon. She cleanly missed with each shot, and found Link on her in a matter of moments. He leapt through the air, sword in the air, preparing to strike. Samus held up her cannon to block the hit. Metal clanged against metal, and both fighters stood locked for a few seconds. Then, Samus punched Link in the face.

"Ouch!" Link said, as he recoiled from the hit. Enraged, he lunged at Samus, hitting her hard in the side of the head with the blunt end of the Master Sword. Samus' head went down, and her body followed. She rolled over in the dirt once, then sprang to her feet. She leapt back between two trees, taking cover from Link as he loosed an arrow from the Fairy's Bow.

Samus heard Link's footsteps coming toward him. She charged her cannon for a while. As Link's head came into view, she rolled out of the way, laying a mine where she had just been, and leapt to the trees. She heard the mine blow behind her, and she thrust herself back through the two trees she had initially come through.

Link rushed through the smoke the bomb had left behind. He had another arrow notched in his bow. He looked around in the treetops for Samus. He found no sign of her. Then, movement.

Link's head darted to the left to find a huge blue orb headed straight for him. Link screamed out in fear, then jumped as high as he could.

Unfortunately, it wasn't high enough. The blast took out Link's feet, sweeping them from under him. As he fell forward, he loosed his arrow in the direction of the oncoming fire. He heard Samus' voice shout, then go quiet.

Link's chin hit the floor as footsteps sounded in the woods to his left. Link put his bow away and took out a bomb. He lit it and threw it into the woods. He heard Samus make a brief shout of hesitation. He threw another bomb to the source of the sound. "AAH!" Samus screamed.

Samus saw the bomb coming toward her clearly. She gripped it with her free arm and made haste to throw it back. She heard Link falter, then an explosion.

Link went flying through the woods, propelled by the explosion of his own bomb. He was, at first, unsure of what to do, but when he saw Samus standing right where he was heading, he drew his sword and prepared to slash. He saw Samus stumble, trying to get out of the way, then fall on her face, slipping on wet underbrush.

Link connected solidly with the midsection of Samus armor. The sword clanged against it, then bounced off. Samus turned and quickly fired a small, blue orb at Link. Having no time to react, Link flew back, dropping his sword. "Oof!" he grunted, as he flew through the air. His back hit a tree, and he slid down it, landing on his tailbone on the earth. "Aaaaaaaaahhaaa..." Link muttered as he tried to get up. Pain was shooting up and down his whole spine.

Samus walked through the brush, looking for Link, her gun raised to chest level. Where could Link have gotten off to? She had been searching for five minutes. Had he given up and gone home? No, not without getting his sword first. Samus was currently wearing it across her back, having tied it there with fission ropes.

Suddenly, something hit Samus from behind. She assumed it was Link. Samus would have reacted, but she was face first on the ground, getting her blaster pounded with a rock. "Hey, stop that!" She shouted in protest, waving her buster arm around and trying to get her attacker off her back.

"THIS IS FOR MY SWOOOORD!" Link shouted, giving the buster one last hit. He heard something crack and saw bolts of electricity dancing up and down the weapon. Link chuckled, and was immediately thrown off by an angered Samus.

"Do you know how long that's going to take to fix?" she shouted.

"Sorry? This is a battle, things get broken," Link stated. He was, though, feeling rather shamed for inhibiting her in her fight tomorrow.

"THINGS LIKE BONES!" Samus countered, flinging a fist for Link's face. Link dodged to the side, then punched her in her helmet. The two glared at each other for a full minute. What followed was a long series of punches, kicks and blocks. They were both putting everything they had into this fight now.

Finally, the burst ended as Samus hit Link square in the chest. Link fell back, then leapt at Samus, kicking at her head. Samus grabbed his leg and threw him toward a tree. As Link whizzed by, he saw something red below him. He grabbed it, taking Samus with him as he fell. He used her armor to break his fall, then quickly drew his bow and notched an arrow. He pointed it directly at her head and drew the bowstring back. "You're dead," he stated, smirking. They stared at each other for a few moments, and then burst into laughter.

Link helped Samus to her feet and put his arrow back in his quiver. He didn't see the point: this thing wasn't called the Quiver of Infinite Arrows for nothing. He was glad he had picked it up on his way to help Mario with a request to help subdue Bowser.

"Good match," Samus said.

"Agreed," Link agreed.

"Let's go home. I'm beat," Samus suggested.

"You said it," Link settled, "but first I want my sword back."

Kirby glared into Fox's eyes. He could stand being called a balloon, putty or any other name you can think of associated with a pink puffball...

Unless, of course, you compared him to cotton candy. Kirby's pink had completely left him, and was replaced by a scarlet red. Normally, Kirby would have pointed and laughed at Fox's confused face, but he was too angry to see the humor behind it right now. He leapt into the air, a blue wave appearing in his hand. He brought the wave in front of him as he slammed himself to the ground. When he did, a Sonic Boom echoed through the room, knocking Fox back into a wall.

Kirby surged forward, ready to beat Fox to a pulp while he was down, but he was grabbed from behind by not one, not two, but three people. Jigglypuff grabbed Kirby's left hand, Pikachu grabbed his right and Yoshi held his center back with his tongue. Kirby struggled wildly to get free, but was consoled by the word of Jigglypuff and Pikachu, whom he was now communicating with fluently. Pink flooded his face again, and he spat at Fox. He spoke some gibberish at him in a menacing tone of voice, then made his way up to his room to rest. "What's with him?" Fox asked himself. "He's usually very cheerful."

"Ya' shuldn' 'a call'd 'em 'so much cotton candy' when he turned away from 'yer bully'in," Captain Falcon told him, matter-of-factly.

"Shut up! By rights, you shouldn't even be here!" Fox replied.

"I earn'd my right 'ta be here fightin' that son-of-a-gun giant hand! You're here 'cus 'yer 'posed 'ta be this 'Great Warrior.' I bet 'yer useless outside 'yer fancy-pants 'lil ship!" Falcon shouted. Fox blushed and turned away.

DK stood in a corner, looking over at Fox, who was just dieing for an excuse to vent his anger verbally. "What're you starin' at, ya' big dumb oaf?" Fox asked him. DK rushed over and lifted Fox from the ground, slamming him into a wall. He bared his teeth and growled at Fox. "OKAY, OKAY, OKAY! LET ME DOWN!" Fox shouted, in fright.

"Ya' shuldn' 'a call'd 'em a 'big dumb oaf,' pal," the Captain said, chuckling.

"Ok, you don't want to let me go? FINE!" Fox shouted. He put his arms at his waste in something that resembled a horseback-riding stance, closed his eyes, focused on the energies inside him, and then, shouting, released them in a 'Fox-Flame' burst. The monkey released his grip as the hot flames touched his hand. "Christ in heaven, everyone's so touchy down here. Touchy, touchy, touchy," he stated. DK glared at him.

"'S okay, big guy. 'Yell get a swing at 'em tomorah'," the Captain ensured him.

It was first light, and the first match was about to start. Mario and Pikachu went to center stage, gave a friendly handshake and a bow, and returned to opposite sides of the arena.

"Ready?" Roy said. The fans roared in the stands, which were packed full of spectators. Hot dogs and coke stood at the ready, as did the beer vendors. This place was going to make a killing.

"Set," Roy said. More cars pulled up in the driveway that had magically appeared overnight. Fans were still flooding into the stands, trying to find the empty seats that didn't exactly exist. Roy whispered something that looked incredibly like "Any time your ready" to Marth.

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" Marth bellowed. The fans roared in excitement as the first match of the tournament came underway...


	5. The First Morning

Chapter 5

The First Morning

Mario looked at the little yellow rat as it tried to lift him from the ground. He picked it up by the head and threw it. The audience seemed thrilled. Mario jumped after the flying rodent, grabbing its tail and throwing it to the concrete. He landed on both feet and spun around just in time to see a bolt of electricity headed straight his way.

Mario tried to jump as the electricity bounced across the arena floor, but he was out of time. His skeleton glowed as the bolt struck him. As the effects wore off, he glared at his opponent. He blew fireballs at Pikachu, one after the other, spreading them out so as to leave no room for 'Chu to run.

So, Pikachu jumped. When he ran out of ground to jump off of, he used electricity to power him. He sped lightning quick at Mario, hitting him square in the chest. Mario felt static electricity coursing through his body, but it was nothing compared to the jolt he had felt earlier. Mario grabbed the Poke'mon off of his chest and slammed it into the ground. The audience went wild as he smacked it repeatedly in its face.

Pikachu was taking the beating of his life at Mario's hands. He let Mario continue, though, because with each smack, his anger was fueled. Finally, Pikachu could hold his anger back no longer. Summoning almost all the strength he had left, he called fourth thunder from the relatively few clouds in the sky. A whole storm struck the arena, and several bolts struck Mario, pumping him full of several hundred watts of electricity.

Mario landed on the floor with a thud. Pikachu was looking very tired after his last attack, and Mario was looking pretty... dead. His shirt was torn at the shoulder, and it would have been bleeding madly were it not for his wounds being burnt shut. He had black marks all over him. He didn't move. Quickly, Pikachu rushed over to see if Mario still had a pulse. He did, but it was weak. "Pika!" Pikachu shouted. The crowd was unsure weather to scream in excitement or murmur amongst themselves in concern.

Link shouted in worry. Was Mario badly injured, or worse, mortally wounded? Then a terrifying thought entered his mind. Had he already stopped breathing? He couldn't just sit here and wait for an answer. He bolted out the doors and on to the arena. He checked Mario's pulse. It was very weak.

Sirens flared, and medical staff jumped out the back of an ambulance almost before it was done parking. They rushed to get Mario on a stretcher, then hurried off to get him to a hospital. "That was a hard hit," Link commented. He could still see steam coming off Mario's body as the MP's packed him into the back of the ambulance.

"What 'a happened here?" Luigi demanded, running out of the bunk house. Sweat began to form on Pikachu's brow.

"It was an accident," Link assured him. "Pikachu accidentally fried your brother." Luigi's face turned crimson.

"I'LL 'A KILL IT!" Luigi shouted, running at Pikachu. Link drew his bow and pointed it straight between Luigi's eyes.

"I said it was an accident," Link said, coolly. "You can either deal with it or you can try to avenge your brother when he isn't dead and there's nobody to get vengeance on. If you try the second option, I'm going to put this arrow through your head, and you'll be indirectly responsible for your own death."

Luigi faltered, almost falling on his face. He stared at the arrow, then at Link, then at Pikachu. The red began to fade from his face, replaced by a bright pink blush. "I'm 'a sorry," Luigi told him. "I got 'a carried 'away."

"Understandable," Samus said, from behind him. "I'd be pretty pissed if this happened to my family too." Pikachu muttered a few words of Poke-talk, then began walking dazedly toward the main hotel room. He didn't mean to fry Mario THAT bad. He had to learn to control this particular attack better before the next match he had.

Pikachu stood all alone in the forests that remained after the gigantic parking lot's materialization. He had set up several blocks of wood as targets. He built up anger, mostly at himself, and, without thinking, used the anger he had to summon lightning from the skies. The storm struck just about everything standing within ten feet of Pikachu. Several trees caught fire, and all that remained of the blocks of wood were ashes.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu shouted, as the fire began to spread. He had to put it out, and fast! He quickly considered his options. He decided that he only had three. One: get water from the nearby lake and throw it on the fire. Two: Burn away an area around the fire before it spread too far. Three: get help. Option one might not be effective enough, and option three would definitely take too long. He would have to make a circle of fire.

Pikachu used controlled thunder bolts from his cheeks to start a ring of fire, then decided the idea was a bad one. How was he going to stop THIS fire from spreading? He quickly ran off to the river to get some water.

At the river, Pikachu found Kirby angrily skipping rocks across the river. Panicked, Pikachu looked around for a bucket.

"What's wrong?" Kirby asked, in gibberish.

"There's a fire! I need to put it out!" Pikachu responded, in Poke-talk.

"I'll help!" Kirby said, determined. He breathed deep, sucking in water. When he was done, he looked like a giant water balloon, and when I say giant, I mean ten feet across.

Kirby began waddling into the woods. He was going far too slow! Pikachu tried to lift Kirby, with no avail. Then, he got an idea. "Stay here!" he shouted as he ran to the bunk house.

DK stood in the bunk house, thinking about how nice it would be if he only had a banana. Suddenly, his chain of thought was broken by the door swinging open. Pikachu stood at the door, sweating. "PI, PI PIKA PIK!" Pikachu stated, urgently. DK grunted in confusion. "PI PIKA PIK!" Pikachu shouted, slowly, pointing toward the woods. DK thought he might understand, but he wasn't sure. He walked over to Pikachu and picked him up. He didn't have to shout if he wanted a piggy-back ride through the woods...

DK sprinted along the river, which Pikachu seemed intent on staying along. Finally, the duo reached the bloated Kirby. A look of realization came over DK's face. This is what Pikachu was trying to tell him. Kirby was bloated and needed popping! No problem. DK set Pikachu down, walked over to Kirby, picked him up, slammed him against a tree, and punched him hard in the side. Water spewed out of Kirby's mouth. He shouted in pain.

"What the hell did you tell him, Pikachu?" Kirby demanded.

"I tried to tell him 'There's a fire!', but the big dumb oaf can't speak Poke-talk!" Pikachu insisted. He got an idea. "Hey... shout real loud in gibberish and point in the direction of the fire. When DK picks you up, suck in more water," he commanded.

"Um... why?" Kirby asked.

"Just do it, there's no time to explain!" Pikachu shouted. So, Kirby obeyed. Before long, DK was carrying Pikachu's own personal fire hose to the fire. Pikachu smiled as he ran behind DK.

DK could feel the heat from the fire as he sat there, staring in awe. Kirby was spraying a steady flow of water on the fire, slowly putting it out. His two companions constantly demanded that he play chauffeur back and fourth between the river and the fire. DK had other things that he could be doing right now...

Finally, the fire went out. A clean circle was burned in the forest, clear of anything but burned debris and ashes. DK grunted, turned around, and headed home. Kirby looked over at Pikachu. "How did this start, anyway?" Kirby asked.

"It's a long story," Pikachu answered.

"I understand," Kirby replied. "Well then, I'm going back to the bunk house. See ya' later!"

Pikachu went to the center of his new training circle to clean it out.

Meanwhile, Ness and Link had started their match. They had given the customary handshake and bow and were going full out at it now. Ness floated in the air, while Link drew his bowstring on the ground. They exchanged fire, Ness shooting PK Thunder at Link and Link returning fire with an ice arrow. Link rolled to the side just in time, but Ness didn't have the same luck. The arrow took his hat off, freezing it solid. "Woah!" Ness shouted as his hat fell to the ground. His eyes narrowed into small slits. "That was my favorite hat," Ness told Link.

Link sighed, then repeated the words he had spoken to Samus earlier. "This is a battle. Things get broken." Ness simply shrugged and swooped down over link, shooting a PK fire at him. As he began his move, he saw Link drop his bow to the ground and draw his sword. Ness didn't have time to react before the blunt end of the Master Sword collided with his face, knocking him to the ground.

Link fastened safety guards to the sharp edges of the Master Sword as he ran toward Ness. They basically made the weapon a thick plate of metal with a curve on the end.

Ness got up just in time. He saw Link charging toward him, so he drew his bat and swung hard. The wooden tool splintered on Link's blunted metal sword. Crimson color added to the angered look of the already-pissed Ness. "That was my favorite bat," he growled.

Link smirked. If he could get Ness angry, he would start acting rashly, as any child would. Then he'd make a perfect target. "This is a battle," he repeated, "Things get broken."

Angry as ever, Ness pulled out his yo-yo and swung it at Link's chest. It was the last thing the Hylian expected. The yo-yo dug in and began spinning. "AAH!" Link said, backing away. Much to his dismay, the yo-yo had a greater length of string. Ness whipped it again, hitting Link in the shoulder this time. Thinking quickly, Link pulled the top safety guard off of his sword and cut the string, then took the yo-yo in his hands and threw it at Ness, bouncing it off his head.

Ness was nearly in tears now. "THAT WAS MY FAVORATE YO-YO!" he shouted.

"This is a battle," Link said, trying to hold back his laughter. "Things get... YAH!"

Link didn't have time to finish. Ness flew straight at Link, nearly hitting him in the stomach with his hard head. At the last minute, Link managed to duck down and kick up, hitting him in the face. Ness continued forward, but he did a back flip in mid-air and landed on his back, skidding a good three feet before he finally stopped. He got up, staggering from dazedness, blood oozing from his nose. Now was as good a time to end the match as ever. Link charged over to Ness and knocked what remained of his senses out of him with his blunted Master Sword.

Ness lay there, breathing heavily, unable to get up. Link panted; the kid had actually been a decent fighter. He examined Ness. He had many scrapes, broken bones, and would probably have the biggest headache of his life when he woke up, but he'd be fine. After all, this was a battle. Things got broken. That included bones.

Link looked over to the trees. Smoke was billowing up from them. "What's going on," he asked himself, as Roy proclaimed him the winner of the match by knock-out. Link stepped off the arena and went to find out what was going on.

Pikachu stood in the center of his cleared out black circle. Blocks of wood stood all around him. He built up his anger again, directing his hate at himself, and, concentrating on the block of wood closest to him, unleashed his anger, summoning lightning from the sky. "PIKO!" he shouted, as a whole storms-worth of thunder blasted the wood block to splinters. That would easily kill a man. He'd have to find a way to lessen the power.

"So, that's what started the fire," a familiar voice stated from the shadows. Pikachu twisted his body around to find out who had spoken. Link stood leaning against a tree. "You might want to focus the energy on one point in the air. I think it'll do the rest of the work for you," he said. Pikachu looked at him, a blank expression on his face.

"Piko pi pik pikachu?" Pikachu asked, a smart-alick tone in his voice.

"Try not to misunderstand me," Link said. "I'm glad you've got the discipline to take time off to modify your technique. I'm just trying to help."

"Pi..." Pikachu said, resentment withdrawn from his voice.

Link looked toward the sky. "It's almost noon," he informed Pikachu. "Jigglypuff and Luigi will be starting soon. You've earned a break. Let's go watch," he suggested.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, excitement filling his tone. The two walked back to the bunk house to get the best view they could of the match.


	6. The Saboteur

Chapter 6

The Saboteur

Link rushed back to the arena, Pikachu giddy with excitement on his back. "Oh, no! We're late!" Link shouted, looking at the shadows on the ground.

"PIKA!" Pikachu exclaimed. He leapt off of Link's back and, charging himself with electricity, bolted forward. He was fast as lightning.

"Wow," Link said. He sped his own pace up, knowing that Pikachu wouldn't fall off now. Then he stopped. "Oh, yeah..." he said, as he remembered a very important fact. He pulled his Ocarina from his cloak and put it to his mouth. Moving his fingers on and off the holes in the top of the blue instrument, he played a soothing tune.

Epona faintly heard a soft tune playing in the distance. At first, she dismissed it as birds whistling, but when she listened closer...

She knew this tune! She hadn't heard it in a long time, not sense link fought against Gannondorf... Hold on a second...

LINK! He was calling to her with his song! Epona's head shot up from the grass she was grazing in. She turned to the direction of the music and bolted, afraid to arrive too late for what Link needed.

Meanwhile, a shadowy figure skulked through the dorm rooms. He moved silently, hitting the walls in the shadows whenever he heard someone coming, then moving again when they left. It dashed down the halls, turned left, and sprinted for room 257...

He didn't know whose room this was, but he did know that rooms 250-262 were reserved for the Smashers. One of the rooms had been emptied after Mario's defeat, and another had been emptied after Link's victory. The shadow smirked as he remembered that Jigglypuff had also been removed. So, there were now three rooms of the twelve emptied.

The figure pressed the side of his head to the brown wood door, listening for movement. When he heard none, he entered the room.

"Hay! Hay! C'mon, go FASTER!" Link shouted. Epona whinnied in protest, but Link's heels quickly changed her mind. "We're going to be late! I would rather not miss this match!" Link stated, explaining the situation to Epona. It was all Greek to her.

At length, they reached the arena. Link patted Epona on the side for making record time across the forest, leapt off her back, hastily gave her a carrot and rushed to the high walls of the arena. He saw Pikachu standing there, bewildered, one ear up and one ear down. "What's going on! Who's winning?" he shouted. When he looked inside the arena and saw that nobody was there, and cursed loudly. "I missed it!" he shouted, stamping his foot on the ground and removing his hat in anger. His short blond hair was strikingly handsome in the sun. Link took great pride in his presence.

Link looked over at Pikachu. "I'm guessing by your reaction that Luigi won. Am I right in my assumption?" Link asked. Pikachu shook its head. "Then... Jigglypuff won?" Link demanded. Again, the rodent shook its head. "Excuse me?" Link wondered, confused. "What happened?"

"Come inside, I'll explain everything," Marth said, from the waiting room doors. Link plodded over to him, wondering what the answer to all his questions was.

The shadow turned sharply. The Smasher who stayed in this room was coming back! He had to hide. He gave off a shrill shriek and ducked under the bed, where it was dark.

Luigi shouted angrily over his cell phone. "Can 'a you believe it? My match is 'a cancelled!" Luigi shouted. A murmur came from the hearing end of the phone. "Some-'a-thing happened to 'a Jigglypuff, Mario! No, I don-'a know what!"

So, this was Luigi's room? Good. The shadow would be doing great things here. After all, too many people liked Luigi for this to be a big deal. This would be a catastrophe!

Luigi burst through the door of the room. "I can' 'a believe it either!" Luigi shouted. He flung himself on the couch and turned on the T.V. There was a show about Italian foods on. "I call 'a you back, okay?" Luigi said. "Good 'a bye."

Luigi popped a tape in the V.C.R. and pushed the record button. He turned the T.V. off and, making sure his key was in his pocket, stormed out of the room.

The shadow crept out from under the bed. So, Luigi liked T.V., did he? The shadow would give him something to watch that he'd never forget!

"What do you mean immobile?" Link demanded.

"I mean that she wasn't moving at all. She was just frozen there, starring at the T.V. There was a tape in the V.C.R., but when we played it, it was blank. We don't know what happened," Roy responded.

"We think it might have been terrorists," Marth added.

"So, Jigglypuff's out of the game?" Fox asked, casually. "One less person to beat. You've got to feel sorry for the giant, pink Twinkie though."

"You're making progress," Link said. "You didn't hint that you were completely happy she's nearly dead. I think you might just make a friend yet."

"I didn' mean anythin', just speaking my mind," Fox stated.

"I think that's the problem," Link responded.

"I think that's enough!" Marth firmly stated. "You've got to learn to get along. Goodness."

"Agreed," Roy commented.

Link and Fox turned away from each other and faced opposite walls. Captain Falcon thought it was just like watching two children fighting with each other. The whole smasher team had been called together to be told what had happened to Jigglypuff, and everyone was there, save Ness, Luigi and Mario.

Kirby squealed in gibberish. Pikachu understood him to mean, "Jigglypuff has been petrified... Perfect. Just perfect." He couldn't help but wonder what was coming next. Someone obviously didn't want the Smashers there.

It was late now. Luigi came back into his room, almost cooled down. The rest of the evenings matches had been canceled, due to the mysterious petrifying of Jigglypuff, and the rest of the day had been fairly uneventful. Luigi looked on his night stand. A tape lay there. The label read "Important message for Luigi." He figured it must be a message from Marth and Roy, having something to do with the tournament. He popped it in the T.V. and looked in near-amusement as a shadowy figure appeared on the screen and started talking.

That is, if you could really call this talking. The figure made bleeps and honks, speaking only in code. What he was saying was encrypted at the bottom. It read:

Dear Luigi,

If you are reading this, then you are most likely the next victim I have chosen for the sabotage of the Smashers Arena. In a few moments, you will be feeling nothing.

Luigi laughed as he read the words on the T.V. screen, but he was quickly silenced as a needle poked into his back.

The shadowy figure quickly injected Luigi with the serum before he had a chance to look away from the T.V. screen. He would be immobile within seconds. He stepped on the side of the T.V. and started triumphantly mimicking the speech he had recorded.

"The serum you have just been injected with will keep you from moving at all for several years, more then enough to scare everyone away from holding this tournament ever again.

Unfortunately, I can't guarantee your safety over the years in which you are frozen... But wait... We old-timers don't really care about that any more, do we? Ha, ha, ha."

The shadow turned to leave, but found an angry Link of Hyrule standing in the doorway. The shadow bleeped in frustration, then charged at Link, refilling his hypodermic syringe as he ran. He stabbed the needle toward Link, but he stepped to the side and kicked the needle out of the bleep's hand. He then whacked it in the head, if you could call it a head. The thing bleeped in anger, then pulled something in the shape of an oilcan out and started littering the ground with "Oil." Link looked in slight confusion at the shadow, but he immediately saw what it was doing when it pulled out a match.

"NO!" Link shouted, reaching for his bow and an arrow, but he was too late. The oil exploded, and Link flew back, hitting the wall hard and sliding down it. Link quickly got up and ran at the shadow, kicking it hard in the face. The shadow stepped back, then grabbed Link and threw him in the air, if you could call it throwing. It was more of a juggle. Link was on the floor and the bleep was covering him in oil hastily. Link reached for his sword, but the code-speaker had already pulled a match from his black expanse. "I'm dead," Link said.

"Not on my watch!" a familiar voice said from right beside the battling pair. Fox Mc.Cloud stood behind the shadow, holding his blaster to its head. "Step away from the elf!" he commanded. The shadow complied. "Now drop the match!" he continued. The shadow cooperated again, and the match faded as it hit the ground. Footsteps could be heard in the hallway.

The shadow made a long, scratchy groan. He had been caught. The Master wasn't going to like this at all.

Marth and Roy dashed into the room, swords drawn, followed by Kirby, Pikachu, DK and all the other remaining smashers. "What's going... Oh, no, Luigi!" Marth shouted.

"Not another one!" Roy shouted.

"I know what's going on," Link stated.

"What?" Marth said. "But... how?"

"Were you born yesterday? He was here the whole time," Fox stated, coldly, his gun still pressed against the shadows head.

"Um... why 're you cover'd in oil?" Captain Falcon asked.

"That... thing... tried to light him up," Fox said, speaking for Link.

"And where did you come into this?" Roy demanded, looking at Fox accusingly.

"He saved my life," Link told them.

"He... what?" Marth asked.

"Sorry, I was under the impression that you could see. I AM holding this thing at gun point!" Fox shouted, now extremely pissed off.

"Sorry..." Roy stated, blushing. He put his sword away, and Marth followed suit.

"So, what do we do with it?" Samus asked. "Kill it?"

"No," Roy said.

"Pika?" Pikachu demanded. Kirby echoed his question in gibberish.

"We want some answers," Marth explained.

DK grunted in confusion.

"I'm with DK. All he can do is bleep. We can't understand him," Link said.

"WE can't, but I know someone who can," Fox said.

"Who?" Link asked.

Just then, Falco walked through the door, followed by Slippy and Peppy.

"Reporting for duty," Falco said, dully.

"I've got the translator ready, Fox!" Slippy stated.

"My goodness, I never thought I'd live to see something older then me," Peppy stated, "Is that Mr. Game and Watch?"


	7. The Calling

Chapter 7

The Calling

Link starred out of his window. It was a dark night. As he lay there, awake in his bed, he wondered what would happen in the next few days. If one of the old-guys wanted him out of there, what was there to make anyone think that the others wouldn't try something as well? There were too many old guys for the smashers to take on alone. They'd need some serious help.

As he thought about these things, another scary thought entered his mind. The old gamers didn't have the intelligence to move against the new ones on their own. Someone... Or something... had to be leading them. But who, or what, was doing it? Link sat straight up in bed as he thought about this.

Kirby snored loudly. He was having a fascinating dream about a talking piece of cake and his wife, a talking can of soda. Suddenly, his beautiful dream was interrupted by a voice shouting loudly in his ear. "KIRBY!" the voice boomed.

Kirby jumped right out of bed. He looked around the room, but nobody was there. He looked out the window. It was still night. "Gibbykawabaderb?" he asked.

"COME TO ME, KIRBY!" the voice boomed again.

Kirby jumped into the air and turned around. Nobody was behind him either. He listened carefully. "COME!" the voice boomed. Kirby heard the voice coming from outside his open window, so he went to see who was calling him.

Nobody was outside.

"THIS WAY!" it shouted, from the forest.

"Fwabby," Kirby muttered, then floated off toward the forest.

"What IS that?" Fox asked as he propelled himself down the side of the walls. He had heard a voice calling him toward the forest.

"FOX, GO FASTER!" the voice commanded.

"This guy's pushy..." Fox stated.

He finally reached the ground floor and started running off toward the forest.

"THAT'S IT, COME!" the voice stated.

"STOP SHOUTING!" Fox commanded, "I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!"

He stopped for a moment, and when he heard no voice tell him to keep moving, he went on. "Good job," he muttered.

Link couldn't help but check this out. When he heard the voice calling to him, he had leapt from his first-story room window, called Epona and sped into the wood to find what was calling him.

"YOU'VE FALTERED," the voice stated. "TO YOUR LEFT!"

Link directed Epona accordingly and kept straight forward, his sword constantly ready. This was too much like a trap to be completely trusting of.

Falco put another ten watts through Mr. Game and Watch. "Stop playing games with us! Who sent you?" he demanded. Mr. Game and Watch bleeped. "Translation please?" Falco asked.

"The computer says that he says that the Master sent him," Slippy replied.

"The same bullshit answer as last time. Didn't I tell you to stop playing games? WHO IS THE MASTER!" Falco demanded, setting the voltage on his tazer to 20 watts.

Mr. Game and Watch blipped. "The Master is... Mika? What's a Mika?" Slippy asked.

"Tell us!" Falco shouted, zapping Mr. Game and Watch with 30 watts. He blipped.

"Mika is... the Master..." Slippy stated.

"What a bunch of help that was. Ok then, WHAT is a Mika!" Falco demanded.

A great bleep sounded from Mr. Game and Watch.

"He says... no?" Slippy stated.

"This is going to be a long night..." Falco stated.

Kirby looked down into the clearing. He looked down to see...

A hand! What was it doing there? "WABBA!" Kirby shouted, as he formed his body into a rock and descended on the hand.

"AAH!" a familiar voice shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Kirby muttered a grunt of confusion. He looked over at the thing he had just hit...

He had hit it right in a gaping wound. Magical energies were pouring from it. It was growing thinner and thinner.

"At long last, I get to see one of you creeps for myself!" Fox shouted.

He had his blaster leveled, ready to blow the hand to smithereens.

"Prepare to meet your maker!" Link said, sword drawn, edging toward the hand.

"Go ahead, kill me. You'll get nothing if you do," the hand stated, not as loudly as before.

"Excuse me?" Fox demanded.

"Can you not see that I am dieing?" the hand asked him.

"So why did you gather us three here?" Link said, putting two and two together.

"I have been betrayed," the hand stated.

"Explain," Fox said, still mistrusting.

"The Master Hand has... betrayed... me," the hand said.

"How?" Link asked.

"When I tried to defeat you before and failed, the Master Hand gave me a second chance to come up with a plan. Trying to please my Master, I organized those with the most hate against you to move," he explained.

"That would explain Mr. Game and Watch," Fox stated. "Falco's going to want to hear this."

"There's more," the hand said.

"Before we continue, who ARE you?" Link asked.

"My name is Mika," the hand replied.

"This babbling needs to stop," Falco stated. "Who and what is Mika?" he demanded. His tazer was set for 100 watts, and Mr. Game and Watch was giving off smoke. It weakly blipped.

"Mika is his Master, a Hand," Slippy said.

"And the circle begins again... What is a hand?" Falco demanded. When Mr. Game and Watch's code translated to panting, Falco zapped him with 100 watts. "Answer!"

Slippy read off the answer that he had been getting for the past hour and a half whenever Falco had asked this question. "The Master's race," he stated, frustrated.

"Man, shoot! Look, give me a straight answer," he demanded, putting his blaster to the black expanses head, "Or I blow your head off!"

"Ha, this guy sounds like your average unoriginal villain... He stabs you in the back and steals your idea?" Fox asked.

"Basically, yes. He will try again, so... be... cautious," Mika warned the three.

"And why have you decided to tell the three of us?" Link asked.

"You three are the only ones with power strong enough to defeat Master Hand. Of all the Smashers, you three are my only chance for revenge," Mika told them. His white glove was nearly empty.

"How are you talking, anyway? You have no mouth!" Fox commented.

"Telpathy. It decreases my power to use the magic energy required, but that doesn't matter much right now, does it?" Mika stated.

"I guess this is the end then?" Fox asked.

"More or less, it is," Mika told him.

"Thanks for the info, then. We'll get your revenge," Fox stated.

"I feel better, now. I'm ready to rest," Mika stated. The white glove faded away, and Mika was no more.

"Guess we should head back, huh?" Fox stated.

"Sure," Link said, deep in thought.

"Wabbi!" Kirby stated, happy as could be. Link mounted and rode off and Kirby took to the air.

"Well, guess I have to walk back, too," Fox stated. Then he added, "Thanks for the ride, Link."

Slippy tackled Falco. "Don't shoot!" he shouted. Falco pushed the frog off of him.

"Stay down, you two! I know what I'm doing!" Falco responded.

"I don't think so!" Peppy shouted, getting to his feet again.

"Yeah, he has too much valuable information in that head of his!" Slippy added, getting up.

Falco sighed. "Guys..." he started, then decided to leave it alone. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to fight both of you," he stated. He jumped in the air and kicked Slippy in the face. He turned to see Peppy coming at him, but the old-timer was much too slow. Falco stepped to the side and tripped him. Peppy fell face first into Slippy, knocking him off his feet as he got up. "Is this supposed to be a joke?" Falco asked. "If you're going to try and stop me, then stop playing around and fight!"

Peppy and Slippy both got to their feet, panting heavily. They gave each other signals that Falco knew well. They had been taught to him as well. He expectantly put out his left arm and close-lined Peppy as he charged past, then did a thrust-kick, knocking Slippy down as he followed up on the right. Neither of the two tried to get up, so Falco decided that he had done enough. He walked over Mr. Game and Watch and pulled out his blaster. "Say good-bye!" Falco shouted, leveling his blaster to its head.

Suddenly, the door opened behind Falco. "What happened?" Fox asked. "And... What are you doing! Put the gun down!"

"This guy's making me mad!" Falco said.

"So, you're just going to shoot him?" Fox asked.

"Well.. yeah," Falco said.

"Put the gun down now before I beat the living daylights out of you," Fox commanded.

"Go ahead and beat the living daylights out of me, then!" Falco shouted, placing his finger on the trigger.

Fox leapt at Falco, kicking the gun out of his hands. He then turned and punched Falco in the face. Falco shouted out in rage, then rushed back at Fox. He tried to kick Fox in the ribs, but was immediately cut off by Fox's heel. Fox pulled his own blaster out, turned the power almost all the way down and gave Falco a well-placed body shot. The bird crumpled, and Fox rushed over to see if he was still alive. He was breathing heavily. Fox could tell that he'd be all right, though, so he went over to see how Slippy and Peppy were doing. They'd live, too. Good. Fox went to the brig to chain Falco up, just to make sure he wouldn't try anything while they were all sleeping. Then, he placed Slippy and Peppy in the medical quarters and proceeded to return to the hotel so that he could rest.

The sun shone brightly as Kirby stood in the arena. Yoshi glared back at him, ready to fight.

"Ready?" Roy asked, over the microphone.

Kirby glared back at Yoshi. He was letting himself get angry for no apparent reason. He would need every last bit of anger to defeat the Master Hand, so he might as well start practicing the build up now.

"Set," Roy continued. He walked over to Marth and whispered in his ear.

Who's fault was it that Kirby was angry like this in the first place? He looked around as he wondered about this, and as he glanced around, he caught a glimpse of Yoshi. It was HIS fault!

"GO!" Marth shouted, and with full fury, Kirby bolted forward.


	8. Let the Tournament Continue!

Chapter 8

Let the Tournament Continue!

Yoshi flung his head at Kirby. Kirby breathed deep and sucked the whole of Yoshi's body in to his mouth. He could feel the lizard struggling to get out, so he quickly copied his DNA patterns and spit him out. He felt his tongue grow long and sticky, and he smirked evilly as he turned to Yoshi. He flung his tongue out and stuck it to Yoshi's head, then used it to slam him into the stone floor behind him.

Yoshi quickly turned and bit Kirby's tongue. In pain, Kirby released Yoshi from his grip. While he was distracted, Yoshi flung his head at the puff once again. This time, it connected solidly and sent him flying through the air. The puff reacted rather quickly for having so much pain. He puffed up and began forcing himself the other way, moving toward his adversary.

Yoshi didn't need an invitation to know what to do next. He leapt as high as he could into the air to try and smash Kirby to the ground, but to no avail. Yoshi flew straight up, and was unpleasantly surprised when a one hundred pound weight fell on his face. The lizard shouted out in surprise as it fell back down to earth.

Kirby looked down at Yoshi as he took his normal form back. There was only one thing to do in this situation. He charged energy in his hands and slammed the ground with it, creating a sonic wave, blowing Yoshi to the edge of the arena. He would've been out, had it not been for a very nice recovery. The lizard stuck his tongue to the edge of the arena and pulled himself back in. Ho, ho, ho, what fun this was!

A happy-go-lucky type attitude came over Yoshi as he realized that beating Kirby wouldn't be as easy as lick-gulp-eat, like most enemies were. He was thrilled with the challenge. Unfortunately, his happiness prevented him from thinking quite clearly, and he was smashed into the arena floor by Kirby, who grabbed him by the neck, jumped in the air and used Yoshi as a cushion to his rapid fall.

Yoshi got to his feet, dazed. "Yosh..." he muttered. He looked around him at his opponent, who was primed and ready to fight. A fire ignited in Yoshi's green eyes as the mini-Dino stared at his opponent. Slowly, menacingly, Yoshi started toward his opponent.

Kirby drew back. He was cowed by Yoshi's hellish demeanor. He scrambled away for a moment, but then his face became scrunched up in displeasure. He turned bright pink, his way of blushing. He had let himself become afraid. He wouldn't let it happen again!

Angrily, Kirby threw himself at Yoshi. He used the DNA he had copied to grab Yoshi and bring him in, proceeding to spit him several feet into the air. He kicked up as Yoshi came down, but was met with a firm foot to what would have been his jaw. He plummeted to the floor, a bright star issuing from his mouth. He knew that his tongue had returned to normal, which meant he had lost a major asset. "WRAFLLEBOB!" Kirby shouted, pounding Yoshi off of him and through the air, clean across the arena. He ran after him to follow up with another devastating blow, but he was abruptly cut off by a dark presence coming at him hard in the face.

Yoshi got up to face Kirby, but instead, found a tall cat-like creature floating. It would have stood on two legs, if it touched the ground. Its hands emanated a purple-black glow, and while its body was white, its tail was purple. It had no visible mouth, but its blue eyes clearly had a look of malice in them.

Alarmed, Yoshi looked around the arena. Kirby was nowhere to be found. There was only the cat-man standing there. "Yoshi?" Yoshi asked. He abruptly jumped out of his skin as a voice sounded inside his head.

My name is Mewtwo. My purpose here is to prove that I am the strongest being in the world by killing you all. Now, prepare to meet your end Mewtwo shouted. He unleashed a blast of dark energy at Yoshi, who quickly jumped up and over it. He bounded down to Mewtwo, but the large cat-man anticipated his move. Yoshi was met with a small ball of the energy that seemed to disagree with every fiber in his body. He fell to the dirt of the arena floor, writhing in pain.

Kirby awoke from his trance on the outside of the arena to a blood curdling laugh. He jumped in fear, then peeked over the side of the arena to see a giant half-cat man standing in the arena. Marth and Roy both stood, their swords drawn, on the edges of the arena. Samus, Luigi, Link and Pikachu were sprinting out from the bunkhouse, Fox and DK leapt hastily off the roof, and Captain Falcon was bounding over the boundary of the stands. The cat-man in the middle of the ring crossed his arms and looked around at his newly acquired opponents. You truly think you can defeat the great Mewtwo Mewtwo asked.

"You're outnumbered," Roy observed.

"You're outgunned," Fox added.

Mewtwo scoffed at their words. "You're outmatched," he stated. He tossed balls of energy wildly at them. The fighters dodged around and took cover, and Mewtwo kept them all pinned to their newly acquired posts. Kirby was the only one left who wasn't in the line of fire.

The fans screamed in terror at the fact that their heroes were out of control of this fight. They fled from their seats and rushed toward their cars. Mothers grabbed their children and carried them as swiftly as they could to the exits, which were by this time crowded and moving extremely sluggishly. Somewhere amid the chaos, several children cried. Anger flared up in Kirby at the sound.

"WRAGGLE!" Kirby shouted, bolting from his hiding place and closing to Mewtwo with impeccable speed. Mewtwo started to turn and confront his new enemy, but by the time he had turned even half way, Kirby had his foot in the cat's stomach. Mewtwo grunted in pain, then flung an energy ball in Kirby's face. The pink puff fell to the ground, not far from Yoshi, and began wriggling along with the still-inflicted dinosaur.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you, little one," Mewtwo stated. "You will not escape this one!" He pulled his hands back and called a dumbfounding amount of energy to them. "This is your last breath!" he shouted, unleashing the attack at the lain-out heroes.

Kirby felt serious pain, then mild warmth, and then, the pain was gone. He looked up from his grounded state to find a lady in a pink dress standing over Yoshi and him. "Yoshi?" Yoshi asked. "Vorgle?" Kirby shadowed. The other Smashers had risen from their cover to engage Mewtwo, but a single white hand raised toward them.

"You're outmatched," she stated. "I'll deal with this one."

Link kneeled. "As you wish, Princess Zelda," he said.

"Thank you, Link," Zelda answered.

"A bit overconfident, aren't we? You've seen my power. Do you honestly think you can win?" Mewtwo asked.

"Yes," Zelda replied, "I know I can win." She smirked. "You see, your point is my point. I have seen your power, and I know it's not strong enough to defeat a sage!"

"We'll see about that!" Mewtwo shouted, as he unleashed a surge of energy at the princess. She held up one of her hands, pointing its palm at the beam of darkness. As it impacted her hand, an invisible force pushed it away, forming a sphere around Zelda. The dark energy washed over it and off the back of it. Then, Zelda placed both of her hands behind her and crouched low. She brought her hands forward. A ball of fire issued from them and headed straight for Mewtwo. The cat jumped over it, let it pass behind him, and then landed. "Is that truly the best you can do?" he asked.

Zelda smirked. "Obviously, you don't understand Dinn's Fire. Look behind you." Mewtwo spun. He gasped when he found the fireball right where it had been when he had landed. It was practically in his face. "HYA!" Zelda exclaimed as she thrust her hand upward. The ball of fire exploded in fury, knocking Mewtwo high into the air. He stopped himself and looked down at Zelda, who stood calmly in the same spot she had sense she apparated into the arena.

"Damn you for your power, Zelda!" Mewtwo shouted. Then, in a puff of smoke, he was gone.

The smashers cheered in delight. Link gave a deep bow and entered the arena. "You have won the battle, Princess," he observed, smiling.

"No, Link," a voice said from behind them. Link turned to see Princess Peach and a rejuvenated Mario standing next to a blue colored Yoshi, which had a soggy turtle shell in front of it. "The battle's just beginning."

"My Lady," Marth said as he approached Zelda. She extended her hand to him and, in accordance with the accepted customs of the time, Marth took it and kissed it. Roy followed him, mimicking the gesture. Then, likewise, the young prince and his general approached Peach, and were likewise greeted. "I am pleased that you have graced our tournament with your presence," Marth stated.

"We regret to inform you," Zelda said, "That the tournament is to be immediately discontinued."

Roy staggered back. "What?" the dumbfounded General asked. "But... why?" he asked. "We have a purpose that you yourselves hailed as 'of utmost importance!'"

"Your cause is a good one, but we have gathered new information that compromises your efforts," Peach told him.

Marth got ready to say something, but an irate Roy cut him off. "What could POSSIBLY be more important then finding and killing the Master Hand?" Roy asked. Then, before the princesses could answer, he gave another outburst. "Like I thought, nothing! I refuse to give in to the will of a few adolescent females who happen to have their little tiaras and scepters tied in a knot, especially when the stakes are this high! Uh-uh, no way!"

"Roy!" Marth shouted, "You will show the princesses respect!"

"Don't worry about it," Zelda stated. Link looked shocked.

"We understand how this could make anyone angry, especially if they truly understood the risks involved and the alternative to success. However, I assure you, if you knew what we know, you'd be eager to lay down your arena passes and help us with our fight," Peach informed them.

"It's really that important?" Marth asked. "I do hope you'll start with the basics."

"Very well," Zelda said. "We know who let the Master Hand out."


	9. The Curse

Chapter 9

The Curse

Tom drove. He had just been given the fright of his life by Mewtwo. He turned to make sure his family was all right, and continued driving through the midday sun.

A tree fell in Tom's path. He swerved to miss it, but despite the effort, he found the hood of his car smashed against the tree. "Rats," Tom said. He got out of his car and checked to make sure his family got out unscathed as well. A man on the side of the road stood staring out at him. "Hey, stranger." Tom said. The man didn't reply. "Um... Can you give us a lift please?" he continued. Another long silence ensued. "... We don't live far!" Tom stated, fear beginning to pass over him. Perhaps a bit of idol chit-chat would cheer him up?

"How's life, stranger?" he asked

"What is life?" the stranger answered. "A gift? A blessing? I think not. Life is a burden that must be borne upon already heavily laden shoulders, and it is often heaviest on those who matter the most. How does this matter to me? You'll not find the answer to that question anywhere among my people. If you had asked years ago, you might have, but not anymore. Even then, the answer would have depended on who you asked.

"Had you asked my step-aunts, they would have told you that their step-nephew was to be a great King, one who would lead his people to victory over those who so readily put themselves at the high throne of the land, casting our people into a never-ending watchfulness in fear that our enemy may someday decide to get off their royal asses and come to the desert to finish off the last of an ancient threat that so long ago almost made their nation crumble. Life was merely raising the boy to become the great King he was born to be.

"Had you asked my people, they would have told you that life was a long wait leading up to the most worth-waiting for event of all time; a wait for the time of their domination, a wait for the time when I would rise to take the throne and smite our enemy in the dirt and laugh at their royal deadness. They would tell you that life was merely a matter of waiting for their time to come.

"Had you asked me, however...

"Had you asked me, I would have probably told you to piss off and leave me to my studies, no matter how you persisted. Now, you have gotten the chance to ask before I've killed you, and I tell you that life is a curse. It wasn't always, but it has become so. To me, life is only a burden, born by those who it forces itself upon. To understand my reasoning, you must first know my past. Few know it, so be silent and listen carefully to my tale and all shall be made clear to you.

"As a child, I bided my time on my studies of magic under my step-aunts. As soon as I was of age, I did take up the throne... for a short time. My will to dominate grew beyond the reach of the throne of my desolate excuse for a country. Thus, I rode off with my Gerudo armies and searched for certain other powers.

"Eventually, I came to the palace of the very enemy I hated so much. Slowly, carefully, I established myself in the political realm of the great country, gradually earning the trust of the King. He trusted me well enough. I saw my time to strike...

"At first, I sought three different spirit stones, so that I could open the way to the Golden Land and retrieve my prize. Before I got a chance to do this, however, I found that a young boy had already set out to do it. Rather then get my own hands dirty, I decided to let the boy gather the stones for me, Then, I would steal the stones from him and kill the young Zelda to gain the final piece of the puzzle: The Ocarina of Time.

"And I took it. I intruded into the sacred realm that the naive youth had opened for me and gazed upon the awesome power that my enemy regarded so highly. But, something went wrong. The power scattered, and only a third of its might came to me.

"Despite the reduction, my enemies broke like water over a rock as I bared down on them, destroying them all. I slaughtered the people of the world indiscriminately. I even destroyed my own beloved nation. Those I allowed to live did so in fear. There were only a few who dared to stand up to me, and I played games with them until I finally got bored of toying around and destroyed them all. All, that is, but a few.

"As I came to realize how great the new power granted to me truly was, I came to realize how my power had cursed me. A great demigod of death had noticed me, and had seen his own opportunity to strike.

"And he took it. I find my soul tainted, even by my evil standards, with his presence. Where I used to bide my time taking more power for myself and killing those who displeased me, I found myself, the great Gerudo King Gannondorf, trying to hold back Gannon, one of the great Demigods, who held even more power then myself and all the sages combined. My struggle for my very humanity had driven me to near insanity.

"Had I a chance to end this torment and undo Gannon's taint, even if I had to exchange my freedom for all his exuberant power granted to me, I would gladly have ended it, until I found a way to control that taint which cursed me. In the bowels of my mind, Gannon struggled one final time to strike me down and take my body, bringing his undoubtedly greater evil into the world. So, I fought him. In the recesses of my consciousness, the great Demon Lord and I battled. A chain of events lead up to a great stroke of luck... And I smote the evil upon the blade of my magic, taking his power for my own, slaughtering the Demigod Lord of Undeath and taking his power for my own.

"The Gerudo, who I once considered my kin, were no longer my people. My nation was not even a living nation. My realm was one of the undead. The Re-Dead, the very corpses of my enemy, came to be my kingdom of soldiers. None could stand before their might. I slaughtered all who lived, save for the handful who escaped. None of them dared to challenge my might. And so, I let them be. Everything had gone according to plan over the seven years sense my ascension to power...

"...Until HE showed up. As if to mock my power, the youth named Link scoured my most precious vaults of treasure and killed the most valuable of my pets, as if to tell me that the living would not be ruled. One by one, he revived the Sages whom I had so skillfully dealt with. And then, bearing the Triforce of Courage, he came to confront me. I thought I would break him easily, as I had done to countless enemies before him. Just to make sure, I stole the weakling Zelda away from him and sealed her in a glyph of power.

"But the youngling didn't break so easily. He mocked me with his combative technique. He defeated me with my own power, and as I felt my strength slipping away, I decided to bring the palace where we fought crumbling down around our ears. I knew I would live, and I knew the Hylian would not. But even through this, Link survived. With the help of the Sage Zelda, he escaped my castle before it fell. I rose from the rubble, wondering how this could have happened. I had the power of a Demigod and the power of the Triforce on my side! He may have had a piece of the Triforce, but surely, the Master Sword was no match for a Demigod's strength!

"It was then that I realized my error. I didn't have the strength of the Demigod. Somehow, Gannon had lived, and in my state of weakness, the monster rose up inside me. I knew that the time to release the taint was now. If Link was to be defeated, I'd have to let Gannon's power do it. And so, calling upon the last bits of my power, I bolstered Gannon's strength and waited as he transformed my body into his own.

"But apparently, even Gannon wasn't strong enough to defeat Link. The 'Hero of Time' killed Gannon, freeing me from his bondage. I would have thanked him for the peace of mind he gave me, had I not been busy cursing Zelda for sending me to the great nothing of eternity.

"Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, months turned to years, and eventually, I lost track of time. Madness crept over me, and I had nothing to do, save for gathering what scraps of my former power I could.

"For years, I meditated, building my magics back to their full power, and I exceeded what I formerly was. My power passed beyond that of the sages, beyond the strength of Gannon, and I came into a truly unique power.

"With might I had never seen before, I broke through the seal of timelessness the sages had sealed so well. I emerged into a Hyrule ruled still by great Hylian kings. I found my old enemy, Zelda, to sit on the throne, and my arch nemesis, Link to be her guardian. So, I laid low for a few years. I learned of great masks endowed with great power. I dared not use them, however, not even the Fierce Deity's or Majora's masks, for I feared another taint entering my soul. So, instead, I found the masks and hid them as best I could from the sight of my enemies...

"I took them back to the time of my enemy's childhood using a long forgotten magic, back seven years when the masks had not yet been forged, and I hid them from my enemies in their pasts. Confident that they wouldn't be able to grasp them, I returned to the future and sought a way to re-gain the throne of Hyrule.

"Then, I learned of a power not quite as great as that of the two chief masks. It was a single being that called itself the Master Hand, and it, like me, had been sealed in a great void. In return for its service, a few others and I shattered its prison and brought the evil of the powerful race of the Hands back into the world. We sent them out to destroy the greatest heroes of the world which we so avidly wanted to dominate.

"To my surprise, Link and a few of his friends stepped up to try and smite my powerful minions. And so, I find myself at an impasse. I know not what to do next, for I fear that any move I may make will lead to a second downfall. This is where I shall pick up the grand story that is my life. I shall find a way to smite my enemies and take the world for my own once more!"

Tom waited a few moments, just to make sure that this person was done with his story. "Um, are you okay, mister?" he asked. Gannondorf, whose attention had shifted to his thoughts, snapped back to Tom.

"You have heard too much," Gannondorf stated. He pulled back his hood, revealing his red hair, extremely tan skin and the Gerudo Stone on his forehead. A wicked smile spread across his face. "I might have apologized if things like this didn't bring me such joy," he continued, drawing a fancily bedecked sword from under his cloak.

"What the... Hey, you put that away, mister!" Tom commanded. It was the last thing he ever said, and the last sounds he ever heard were those of his family's slow death by means of magical torture.


	10. The Balance of Power

Chapter 10

The Balance of Power

Mewtwo walked through the halls of the palace. An underling snapped him a crisp salute. In frustration, Mewtwo blasted him out of the way and continued on. The underling's last moments were spent in burning pain induced by his master's blast.

He walked past Gannondorf's chambers. He would have gone in to report, but seeing that he was out on an "Errand," he decided not to bother. Instead, he went into Bowzer's 'throne room' and spoke with him about the mission.

"So," Bowzer asked as Mewtwo entered, "How'd it go?"

Zelda showed up Mewtwo stated, as though that explained it all.

"And that weakling beat you?" Bowzer demanded.

Trust me, she'd mop the floor with you, too. Mewtwo snapped in reply.

A low, rumbling laugh issued from Bowzers mouth. "Your power isn't half of what you claim it to be if you couldn't handle even one prissy little princess," he assured Mewtwo.

So, you see this as a failure of my power Mewtwo demanded. Before Bowzer could answer, Mewtwo continued on. My power is different! One simply has to look at what power itself is to see it! So tell me, Bowzer, what is power to you 

"Power is something to strive for. Wait, I take it back. Power is the result of that strife." Bowzer answered. Then, smiling widely he said, "I have put in the effort, that's what makes my power greater then yours!"

Mewtwo chuckled. Maybe that's what power is to you, but to me, it's completely different. Power is a gift, one that I have possessed sense birth. That's what sets our powers apart. The fact that you have put in effort and I have not is irrelevant, my good dino-turtle. 

"Explain," Bowzer commanded, shrugging the insult to his race off.

Mewtwo sighed. All right then, I shall tell you my story Mewtwo deliberated.

I was not born he explained. I was made by Giovanni's scientists, in a laboratory. Basically, I was a test tube baby, the success of an experiment that had failed so many times before. 

"What was the experiments purpose?" Bowser asked, rising to his feet with curiosity.

If you'd sit down and shut up, I'd tell you Mewtwo responded. Bowzer scowled, but he complied. Satisfied that all interruptions down the road had just been silenced, Mewtwo continued his tale.

The purpose of the experiment he explained Was to make a poke'mon whose powers could match or even surpass those of the legendary Mew. For years upon years, scientists worked to make their dream a reality. Countless failures took place due to miscarriages in the test tubes, or the Poke'Mon produced would not have enough power, and thusly be terminated. Their last attempt was me. The scientists were thrilled at their work...

Until, that is, I broke out of my test tube, killed everyone in the lab, melted the computers and torched the facility. Upon this happening, Giovanni himself came to the wreck site to confront me. He found me standing amid the smoldering rubble wondering about my purpose. He beguiled me into thinking that my purpose was to fight for him, and he did so by offering me a device that would focus my power, supposedly strengthening it tenfold. What a fool I was to believe him...

I defeated countless enemies for my new master Mewtwo stated. Bowzer listened quite fascinated, pouring over every word Mewtwo said. No Poke'Mon could stand up to me. You can't imagine how boring it is to fight one weakling after the other day after day, month after month. After a year, I had honed my power to the point of perfection. With no further need of him, I killed Giovanni, cast his technology down and flew off to find my own purpose.

I wandered for weeks trying to find a purpose. After a long time, I decided that my destiny was to become the most powerful being on the planet; to answer to nobody and run my own life, the life of a free Poke'Mon. None would master me except for me. It was this thrilling sentiment that compelled me to go into hiding, stealing the genetics of the most powerful Poke'Mon on earth and engineer them, perfect them so that they would be superior to the rest. It took years to perfect the process, but I eventually created superior copies of every species known to man.

I easily bested them all. I quickly found the reason for their ease of defeat to be a lack of combat experience. Therefore, I found the best course of action and took it. I called the best Poke'Mon trainers to my castle to engage in a tournament with me. I turned the tournament on them, unleashing my creations upon their counterparts, just to see if my theory was correct. Unfortunately, it was not. My Poke'Mon easily bested those of the pitiful trainers who came to face me. But then, a glint of something caught my eye.

I turned from the battle to see the legendary Mew streaking through the sky! I eagerly engaged it, but it didn't seem to want battle. Perplexed, I continued unleashing my attacks on it, only to find that in its innocence, it was wholly happy. Touched, I destroyed my creations and allowed my aspersers to return to their homes. I traveled with Mew for a while trying to live the peaceful life that it lived, but was not contented with this lifestyle. Seeing my evil roots emerge once again, Mew had no choice but to engage me on the field of battle once again. This time, though, I killed Mew, and left its dying corpse lying on the dirt. I found this to be the first contentment I had in a long time.

I was never defeated again. I hunted down all of the legendary Poke'Mon and defeated them in turn. With no Poke'Mon left to stand up to me, I began a brief campaign of destruction...

Until, that is, I met Mew once again. Somebody had revived him, I think, although I can't explain the life that found him. We fought again, but neither of us was able to defeat the other. We realized the futility of the battle and, with a nod, we went our separate ways, both of us knowing that we'd meet again, and each of us knowing that if we didn't become stronger, we'd be defeated.

That was when I met you and Gannondorf. He promised me great rewards of awesome power if we agreed to help him in his goal of taking Hyrule's throne. I was enticed, so I helped him release the Master Hand. You should know the rest yourself. 

"An interesting tale," Bowzer stated. "I won't bore you with mine.

"No no," a familiar voice stated from behind Mewtwo. "I'll agree with you about Mewtwo having an interesting tale," Gannondorf stated, "But I think we DO have plenty of time to hear your story." He eased himself into a chair and got ready to listen to Bowzer.

"... If I must..." Bowzer said.

"You must," Gannondorf replied, smirking.

"Fine," Bowzer spat. "As you know, I've been after the throne of Mushroom Kingdom forever. Mario, Luigi, Peach and their stupid dinosaur pets have been able to thwart my plans every time. I can't think of a plan to get past them." Bowzer chuckled. "Hell, I've even let my sons try to beat them and entered go-cart races to win the money necessary to BUY Mushroom Kingdom from them! I wasn't quite expecting Mario and Luigi to enter, though. They beat me good in those races...

"At any rate, I was in my dungeon one day wondering about how to defeat the quartet of heroes when you came to me, Gannondorf. You told me that you'd help me take Mushroom Kingdom if I'd help him take Hyrule first. I hastily agreed, and the three of us broke the Master Hand out of his prison. This was all a part of your master plan."

Yes, it seems now that your plan has failed, Gannondorf. What now Mewtwo asked.

"I'll explain in a moment. But right now, I have some questions for Bowzer. I'll start off simple. Why do you want Mushroom Kingdom so bad?" Gannondorf replied.

"For the same reason you want Hyrule," he stated, smirking. "I want to be powerful."

"So why not run for president of someplace else?" Gannondorf wondered.

"You kidding? No place can rival the Mushroom Kingdom's power, save for possibly Hyrule, and I didn't particularly feel like moving way out there to take over!" Bowzer replied.

But you've dragged yourself way out here to the Dark Castle to be a part of this alliance. Why Mewtwo asked.

"Well, I might have moved to Hyrule a few years ago, had it not been for my ego," Bowzer explained. "I just have to know that I can beat the Mario brothers and their friends before I become Mushroom Kingdom's King."

"I see," Gannondorf said. "Unless Mewtwo can think of something, I think that's all the questions we have for you."

I do have a question, but it's not for you, Bowzer. Gannondorf, what were you planning on having us do next Mewtwo reiterated.

"Nothing," Gannondorf stated.

"What?" Bowzer asked.

"Nothing," Gannondorf repeated.

I see Mewtwo observed You want to let them bring the fight to us. And what then 

"We react. The last thing they'll expect us to do is let them waltz into the castle. When we do, we'll lock the door behind them with Mewtwo's power and my magic, creating a seal that not even Zelda can break. Then Bowzer and I will unleash our minions throughout the castle to search out the past heroes of the land," Gannondorf explained.

They won't know what hit them Mewtwo stated.

"Mushroom Kingdom will finally be mine!" Bowzer bellowed.

"Yes," Gannondorf said, "You two will be rewarded greatly." He returned Bowzer's evil smile. Then, he walked out of the room and left his two fools inside of it, laughing hysterically. "What you don't know," he muttered, once he was out of hearing distance, "Is that as King of Mushroom Kingdom and the most powerful being on the planet, you will get in my way. Your reward will be the taste of your own blood, when you've finished out your usefulness."


	11. Plans

Chapter 11

Plans

Peach looked over at Mario. His recovery had been miraculous, and when he had come to tell her about the events of recent times, he had been all too cheerful about the dire situation. It wasn't like the Mario she knew at all. Until he proved himself once again in the field of combat, he was not to be trusted.

The princess' chain of thought was interrupted by the voice of a young prince. "Princess, I would rather much like to know what's going on," Marth stated.

"Very well," Peach answered, "But not here."

"Inside," Zelda agreed. The purple-blooded youths started toward the door. When the others tried to follow them, Zelda placed one hand back. "Alone," she told Marth, making sure that all could hear.

"Zelda'aki?" Link asked.

"Link," Zelda responded, "Call me Zelda'maji in public, please."

"My apologies, princess." Link's confused gaze explained everything. She smirked and turned.

"I'll be back," she stated.

"So," Marth asked, "What's going on?"

"It was Gannondorf," Peach responded, seeing the meaning of Marth's question.

"But... didn't you seal him away?" Marth asked, nodding to Zelda.

"Well, yes. You see, Gannondorf broke the seal," Zelda responded.

"How did he pull that off?" Marth demanded, his tone now quite serious.

"He's changed. Right now, he's even more powerful then I am, even with Din's magic and the Triforce of Wisdom at my side," Zelda stated.

Marth's eyes grew wide. "We're in deep trouble."

Peach smirked. "She didn't say he was unbeatable, only that he was powerful," she assured him.

"But, who is there in the game world who can defeat him?" Marth asked.

"I said that Gannondorf had changed," Zelda said, "But so has Link." A look of realization fell over Marth's face. "If he fails, there are two others who might be able to do this task."

The look of understanding on Marth's face fell into one of confusion. "What?" he asked. "I don't get it..."

"You cannot be told," Peach said, "Only shown. You will know what we mean when you need to know."

"If you say so," Marth replied. The Princesses waited for Marth to take in the situation. "Go on, I'm listening," he insisted.

"Bowzer and Mewtwo have joined up with Gannondorf, making one of the most deadly teams ever seen in game world history," Peach told him.

"This just gets better and better," Marth stated.

"You know who has joined here, and you know how deadly the team of fighters you've assembled here is," Zelda said, harshness filling her voice, "So stop complaining and listen to us. You know very well we can win."

"... Sorry," Marth said. "I guess it's just our tournament's cancellation getting to me."

"I know," Peach said. She smirked, gave Marth a minute to get a hold on himself, and then continued. "We have a plan for getting in to the Dark Palace and killing the trio, ending their power before they put a stranglehold on us."

"You know where the Dark Castle is?" Marth asked, impressed.

"The details are all in here," Zelda stated, handing him several sheets of paper safely nestled in a file-folder.

Marth took a moment to look it over. "You really think we're going to have to do all of that just to get into the castle?" he asked.

"It's not like they're just going to let us waltz on in," Zelda stated.

"No, no indeed, quite the opposite. We're going to have to fight hard to get in," Peach added.

Marth looked over the plans one more time, pouring over every meticulous detail. "I can't think of anything wrong with it, unless the three kings pull a few surprises on us," he said. "I'll forward my plans to Roy."

"No," Peach said.

"Why not?" Marth asked.

"One of us isn't who he seems," Peach said, "And until we know who the imposter is and what his real identity is, we will have no way of knowing who to trust and who not to."

"I see," Marth stated. "Well then, I'll get the good general to start on phase one of our plan."

"I'll see Link off on his new adventure," Zelda stated.

"I suppose that leaves me with the hardest job," Peach said.

"What do you mean? You don't have to do anything!" Marth exclaimed.

"I have to wait," Peach responded. All three semi-monarchs chuckled, then set out to do their tasks.

"You're not making much sense," Link stated, as he and Zelda began clambering up another flight of stairs.

"I know," Zelda responded. "Just find yourself and bring yourself back here."

"Very well. By the way, may I ask what was said in there?" the Hylian champion asked.

"You may," Zelda said. They reached the top stair and began wondering down a long hallway. "I wouldn't be able to tell you, though," she finished. Link sighed. "I only wish I could. Until we have a few things sorted out, we won't be telling anybody."

"I understand," Link stated.

"Well, here we are," Zelda told him.

"So, this is where the next chapter in my story begins, is it?" Link asked. "This should be fun."

Zelda giggled. Her face was, all of a sudden, very solemn. "Be careful, Link'aki," she commanded.

"I will," Link responded. He opened the door and walked ahead, to the purple mass that Zelda had told him was some sort of time-displacement rift. He stared into it for a moment, nervousness peaking in his gut. He turned to Zelda, trying to say something, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, he kissed her, and without another moment's hesitation, he entered the portal.

"Keep him safe, Farore" Zelda prayed.

The following section has been translated for practical purposes.

"What?" Pikachu asked.

"I think Marth was trying to tell me to tell you to go get Pichu," Kirby stated.

"Why?" the rodent wondered.

Kirby shrugged. "I think we're going to need all the help we can get," he asserted.

"Whatever, dude," Pikachu told him.

"Well, you'd better get going!" Kirby shouted.

"Whatever, dude!" Pikachu shouted back. Both creatures laughed. Then, smiling, Pikachu turned and ran off into the forest to find his pals and get Pichu.

Fox sat at the dinner table with all the Smashers, save for Link. He had convinced Marth to invite Mr. Game and Watch as a 'dinner guest'. The Smashers were feasting on a most excellent turkey dinner, while Mr. Game and Watch sat at the other end of the table with nothing. Fox had been sure to starve the construct beforehand. Its hunger programs were sure to be urging him to talk with every fiber of his being.

Longingly, Mr. Game and Watch looked at the dressing as Mario passed it around the table. Fox smirked. "As soon as you tell us what we want to know, you can have all that you want," he said.

Mr. Game and Watch promptly turned away and bleeped. The translation software read 'Bastard.' Fox laughed.

"It's your choice," he stated, stuffing himself with another large spoonful of mashed potatoes.

A few more minutes passed. Mr. Game and Watch began to drip tiny black dribbles from his mouth. Finally, he could stand no more. "Okay, okay, I'll talk!" he shouted. The Smashers stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

"You can talk?" Marth demanded.

"... Yes," Mr. Game and Watch replied, "Yes I can."

"Okay then," Fox said, "Talk."

"Well..." Mr. Game and Watch said, suddenly hesitant. "You see, one day, this giant turtle-man came up to me with a weird notepad in his hand. He said that if I helped him, he'd make me smarter, on the level of the heroes of new games. I didn't see how he was going to do it at the time, but it was really a very simple process. Sense all we old-game characters are almost completely made of simple code, they calculated a few very simple algorithms and wrote an intelligence program for me. They also gave me vocal software and combat programs, so I could do their work. I guess it worked, sense I was able to beat Link."

"I suppose so," Fox stated. "Before we let you eat, though, what do the hands have to do with any of this?"

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Mr. Game and Watch skeptically asked. "They're..."

But, Peach cut him off. "That's enough, Mr. Game and Watch," she told him. "You've told us enough."

"But, he didn't say..." Fox began.

"We already know the answer to that question," Peach stated. Then, she turned to Mr. Game and Watch and handed him a plate. Smiling, she nodded to the feast and ordered him to dig in.


	12. The Mission

Chapter 12

The Mission

Link stood at the base of Hyrule Castle. The purple-orange sunset gave the castle a mystical look. "Look at that," Link stated. He hadn't seen the castle in such order sense the days of the last King. The reign of Zelda had been one of hardship and reconstruction.

Zelda... Link had been in the past for no more then fifteen minutes and already he missed her. It was reassuring to know that she loved him as he loved her, but it was also distracting. Link shrugged it off and got back to his search. If he remembered correctly, this would be the night that he would be coming back through the space warp that had sent him to Termina. He needed to get to the forest and rip himself out of his past.

_If only I had Epona with me, _Link thought. _Serves me right for not thinking ahead._ He shrugged of this distraction, too, and rushed to the Kokiri forest.

Night fell as Link rushed into the forest. The stagnant air hung like a dark curtain all about him, and something felt deathly wrong. Shrugging of yet another feeling, Link jumped off the bridge that blocked him from the forest floor and sprinted madly for the tree trunk he knew to be the one he needed. Before he got there, though, he heard hoofprints from his left. "That must be me," Link stated with a wide smirk. "Am I early, late or both?" he asked himself, trying to make a joke about the situation he was in.

Pikachu ran. Hard. Very hard. If his gut was telling him the truth, then Pichu wouldn't exactly be in a cooperative mood. He had heard how Pichu had tried to sub for him in a trainer duel and lost royally.

Pichu never dealt with losses well.

A bolt of thunder struck in the distance. "Piko piko," Pikachu stated.

The rodent dashed toward the bolt to find an angry Pichu standing there angrily spitting lightning all over the ground. "Pika..." Pikachu menacingly warned.

"Pichu!" Pichu shouted. Then, it threw a bolt of energy at Pikachu. Almost laughing, Pikachu blasted his smaller counterpart with several watts of electricity. When he was satisfied that Pichu wouldn't be able to try anything again, Pikachu plodded over to his downed comrade. Ash jumped out from behind a barrel as he approached. "Pikachu!" Ash shouted. "Where have you been?" Pikachu sighed, picked up Pichu and walked away. "Hey, Pikachu, come back!" Ash commanded.

"Piko," Pikachu responded, dismissively. He continued toward the Game World Arena.

Link was afraid. Or rather, afraid was an understatement. He was standing there in the woods and had come face to face with a gigantic vision of himself. He knew the image to be similar to the one he had seen in a mirror during his adventures with Princes Zelda to smite the evil warlord Gannondorf, but if this were truly him, he would have no business in this time. Fearing for his life, Link snapped back into reality and began a blind charge.

Link was amazed at his smaller counterpart's speed, but he took the assault in stride, blocking the blow with the Hylian shield on his back and proceeding to lay him on the floor with it. He rubbed the back of his head as a new stream of memories from his past poured into his head, and he remembered how much that blow had hurt. As the younger Link began to rise from the floor, his larger counterpart dropped the thought and waited for his kid self to attack again. He knew this fight like the back of his hand, having just received the memories he was even now creating for himself, and he knew that he would not submit until beaten. And while he regretted the pain, he knew of the task that lay ahead.

And so, young link charged in again only to have his sword deflected by the larger Master Sword and receive a stunning smack to the side of his head from its blunt side.

Pikachu stood over his little friend's form protectively as the swarm of bird-like creatures came at him. There had to be hundreds of the members of the Pidgy strain coming at him! "Piko..." he said distantly, losing heart at the sheer amount of vicious scavengers coming his way.

Zap! The first bolt of electricity flew, but it wasn't from Pikachu's electrical cheeks. Another closely followed that one, and then another, and still another. Looking back over his shoulder, Pikachu saw Pichu up already and fighting hard with every amount of energy in its tiny form. He smiled and congratulated the smaller rodent for his bravery and endurance...

... And was promptly clipped upside the head by a set of talons. Now in a rage to match that of his younger counterpart, Pikachu turned sharply and caught the Pidgiotto in its hind parts with a powerful electric attack, bringing it down for good. He joined his friend in the continued stream of electric attacks as the great flock of birds headed ever toward them.

A bright, sunny day was coming to an end in Hyrule field. The fleeting sunlight bathed the land in all of its beautiful shades and painted a picture of awe inspiring beauty in the sky. The flowers were in bloom and the tops of beautiful trees swayed in the wind. Several people walked the road between Kakariko village and Hyrule castle, their cloaks waving in the cool summers breeze that came in from Lake Hylia. However, all of this beauty was secondary to one very important factor: The sound of metal ringing against metal sounded in the distance.

Almost too quickly for the average passerby to see, the Links rushed through a crowd, weaving in and out of civilian bystanders to strike, parry and block. The roads cleared rather quickly as people scrambled all about to escape the fighting, and, spurred on by their fear, all of them reached their destinations well before the sun set.

The battle continued at a breakneck pace for hours and it was truly a spectacle for anything to see. The creatures of the planes stopped wandering about their normal business to stare at the pair locked in combat, thinking of nothing but the want to sit and see the wonder being worked before them.

As the golden orb in the sky fled behind the horizon, Link lifted the younger him upon his shield and flipped him through the air and onto his back. Never deterred despite his obvious fatigue, young Link rose from the ground and charged blindly in a rage that would not die; tiny embers of passionate battle lust burned in his minute eyes. How Link truly missed that feeling!

And then, something that neither fighter had expected to happen happened. The animals on the plane scattered to find cover as their thoughts sifted away from the battle at hand. The land that was just a few seconds ago so full of the miracle of life emptied and stood as still as death, for death itself stood on the battlefield.

Both of the Hylian warriors sensed the thing at the same time. The ceased their battle at exactly the same time, and both of them looked over their right shoulders. Burning eyes looked out of stripped skulls at the fighting pair. This was the largest number of skeletons either fighter had ever seen, and they looked almost despairingly to them. Before Link could explain the situation and play the song that would take both fighters back to his present, the young Hero of Time dashed off into their midst unleashing a series of attacks with deadly accuracy and blocking incoming blows with professional style. That skill had only improved with time, and his older counterpart was quick to join him in a dance of metal that shamed even the great young warrior's work.

The pair of Pokemon seemed hopelessly outnumbered, and they were now back to back firing into the group of Pidgy-kin that had come close enough to advance on foot. It seemed to them as if they had been fighting for days, although it had only been a few minutes in reality. There would be no escape from this battle: the only possible ends to it lay in victory or death.

Knowing fully the consequences of a loss and not quite as enraged as his smaller counterpart to begin with, Pikachu calmed and formulated a plan in his head. He began whispering soothing words to his smaller friend through gasps of air and deadly bursts of thunder and, in only a short minute, he had the smaller Pokemon listening intently.

After a good thirty seconds of Poke' talk, the two stopped blasting their enemies. They turned and locked hands, and Pikachu began instructing his smaller friend in the art of the powerful attack they were about to perform. Not missing their chance, the whole flock of Pidgy-kin began advancing at double their earlier pace.

A sharp exchange of Poke'Words was shot between the two friends and their attention turned to their duties. A twig snapped not five feet behind Pikachu, who figured that now was the best shot they were going to get at this. "PI!" he shouted, signaling his young friend to begin the attack.

The pair began shouting loudly and an electric storm began forming in the air almost instantly. Pikachu gave a few more words to coach his smaller friend and, as if one, the energy bolts shot from the sky. The explosion that followed literally flattened hundreds of yards of bushes and sent the bird-like Pokemon flying through the air for much greater distances.

But, something had gone wrong. Somehow, Pichu had slipped up, and he took the brunt of the force of his own attack rather then forcing it to wash over him as Pikachu had done. He flew for hundreds of yards and smacked full force into a tree, falling limp to the ground. Pikachu cried out in alarm and, calling on the aid of the electric powers inherent to his race, dashed to his fallen friend in a matter of seconds.

Pichu wasn't moving, and Pikachu couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.

Tears welled up in his Poke'mon eyes as he dashed through the forest that had once stood in the area and headed back to the arena.

The two Links battled ferociously, felling skeleton after skeleton on Hyrule field and still they came. An unending wave of fiery eyes swept over the planes as the fighters, now emoting their extreme exhaustion in every movement, were overcome by looks of despair that grew on both of their faces when they saw yet another hoard emerge from over a tall hill in the distance.

And then the painful memories started again. He didn't have to look at himself to see what was happening; he plainly felt every blow that he took in the images of his childhood. True to the visions Link was having, the younger form of himself took a bone fist to the gut, and he left an opening that the skeletons were quick to take. He collapsed to the floor with no less then fifteen blows that came at him in rapid succession.

Knowing he would be in more trouble then even he could handle by this point, Link spun and threw his boomerang to the skeletons hovering over his own fallen form, already bending down to begin their meal. Several of them shattered, and still more found their end under the fury of a bomb that Link threw into their midst. The whole lot of them paused for a moment as this new weapon entered the battle, and Link used the extension on time to play a song he knew would save them.

Link moved his fingers to the position to play an A and blew loudly. He held it for a short value and moved to an F, which was equally short. His last note was four times as long as the first two and it rang out an octave above his previous one. He repeated the series once more and took the ocarina away from his lips, smiling as rays of sunlight began to almost instantly bathe the land in its color once again. The remaining skeletons either burrowed underground or were fried in the intensity of the sun's rays, becoming no more then a fine blue mist. He moved to his downed counterpart, sheathed the young one's sword and hung his shield on his back. Then, flipping the youngling over his shoulder, Link played another tune that ripped a hole in the fabric of time. He stepped through and found himself staring into Zelda's loving eyes. They quickly turned to concern when they saw the bruised and bloodied form of Link's past, and the princess was quick to place him in the medical quarters of the tournament grounds.

Well, that's it for now. I'll post Chap. 13 when my first review comes in!


	13. Training Grounds

Chapter 13

Training Grounds

The Game World Arena was shining brightly in the sun. The stands that had until recently been as full as they'd come, and their emptiness left an uncomfortably stale silence on the air. The area surrounding the arena was deceptively peaceful. Life was all around in the form of chirping birds and buzzing insects, plants grew all around and not a sound could be heard above the bird's gentle chirping.

Not a sound, that is, except for the calls of a pair of boots treading lightly up the stairs. They barely touched the ground as the warrior climbed into the arena and walked slowly to its center, reflecting on everything. His purpose had been stripped from him at the hands of two of his friends from an earlier time, and he was still reflecting on what the loss of purpose meant for him. He stopped in the center of the arena. He could think more clearly here at his true home, the field of battle.

The red-headed youth pulled his sword from its scabbard slowly, the sound of metal on metal barely escaping it. His remarkable armor glinted in the sun as he looked about the arena, making sure it was clear, and it barley sounded as he moved about it, going through his sword techniques. He thought better in action.

His movements were clear and fluid as he moved all about the arena practicing different forms and complex movements. He sped as he whirled about the place, fighting off a hundred invisible enemies, and he viciously slashed at them as he began losing his head to rage at the tournament's cancellation. The blur of movements ended in a sudden burst of heat and light as Roy blasted off one of the corners of the arena in a blaze of fury that expelled fire from his sword. Not even phased by the display, Roy sheathed the magnificent sword he wielded and headed back to the administration room. Marth had some questions to answer.

Link woke up with a splitting headache. He groaned and turned over in the bed - Bed? Yes, it was a bed - he was in. He had no idea how he had gotten there, but that was secondary to his other scrambled thoughts right now. He groaned again and opened his eyes slowly. "Wha?" he screamed, and the splitting pain seemed to leave his head. He leapt out of bed and took up a ready stance. When he saw nobody in this extremely unfamiliar place, he rushed to the door and threw it open.

Zelda smirked. She had heard the scream and knew that Link must be awake by now. She had moved toward the medical quarters and was taken by surprise when she found the strong-willed child bursting out of the door despite his grievous wounds. "Who are you?" the child demanded.

"My name is Zelda," the princess responded. The child looked shocked, and Zelda's smirk grew to a knowing smile. "You are far from home, little warrior."

"I'm warning you, if you don't let me go..." Link let the words hang menacingly in the air.

"You'll do what?" Zelda demanded. "Link can best you a hundred times over."

"I'm Link!" the little one spouted, practically foaming at the mouth.

"Me too," a familiar voice called from down the hallway, and the younger Link recognized it as his own. He would have spoken, but he was too dumbfounded by the realities that he had refused to accept until just now. "Be calm, little one. You'll find no harm coming to you here," the older Link assured his younger self.

"What do you want?" the mini-Link asked.

"Well, we have a great struggle ahead," Zelda informed him, "And we will need your help before the end."

"Why?" the younger link asked. "You said that he" - He pointed accusingly at his older self- "Could best me a hundred times over!"

"And that," Link said, "Is what we intend to remedy first."

"Why are you helping me?" young Link asked.

"As I said, we have a great struggle ahead," Zelda responded, and she began to relate her tail to him.

Kirby flew at the wire frame of a muscular male human with fury and passion, and he knocked him easily aside with a single well-placed kick. He turned to another and sucked it in, then turned to a third. He spit the second at the third with the force of a well-sped battering ram, and the two tumbled to the floor in a broken, tangled pile.

Kirby was taken by surprise when the fourth wire frame gripped him by his flabby dome and tossed him backward. Kirby cursed in gibberish as he began falling, but quickly silenced himself as he rose from under the suspended arena. The wire frame, not having the mind capacity to be shocked, rushed at him again. When he met a furious ball of rapidly twisting hammers and fire, he flew through the air and slammed against the walls.

Kirby stood there unfazed. The challenge was over, and he had emerged victorious easily. He put on a wide smile and began walking toward the door, but he was stopped by a vulpine form in the doorway. "Those wire men," Fox stated, "Are not worthy to test the mettle of a Smasher. Let's see how you fare against a real opponent!" Kirby squealed at the thought of a challenge, and Fox was ecstatic at a chance to finally fight somebody who would prove a challenge. Both of the fighters grabbed small controls from the walls and moved to the center of the arena. The arena melded and shifted to their thoughts. However, sense no place in the fighter's minds suited both candidates perfectly, the computer searched the databanks and formed an arena that would suit both of them equally, favoring no one over the other. Both fighters looked on as the arena shifted into the likeness of the Congo Jungle.

"Wabbi!" Kirby stated, as he pressed the ready button on his pad. Fox chuckled as he did the same, and both pads faded from their hands. They looked to each other and prepared to begin the match.

"Wow!" Young Link said, his enthusiasm catching both of the Hylians in his presence off guard. They had thought he'd be resistant to their story. They liked the results, however, so they didn't question them. Instead, they lead him down a hallway and into a room where the other Smashers (minus Fox, Kirby and Roy)were waiting. They smiled when they saw Young Link following the two Hylians, and they all stood and greeted the elf-like boy in turn. Zelda smiled when she saw Ness and Jigglypuff greet him, glad about their returning to the elite team.

When the introductions were over, the Smashers got straight to work. "Allright everybody, listen up!" Marth had commanded to quiet the floor before turning it over to Peach and Zelda, who were far better then he with words.

"As many of you are aware," Zelda began, "A very serious problem has arisen." Nods from several of the Smashers told her that they did, in fact, know. "Further details I cannot reveal to you as of yet, but rest assured that the danger is serious." She was glad that Fox wasn't there at the moment so as to avoid his sarcastic comments about his own power and self-superiority. "It's beyond any of us," she continued, drawing concerned looks and in some cases, groans, from the Smashers.

"Therefore," Peach stated in conclusion, "We are starting a training program for all the Smashers." Marth joined them then, and together, they laid out the basics of their plans for training. The morning would be spent with Zelda, where the Smashers would learn to defend themselves with the magical spheres that Zelda had used against Mewtwo. Afternoons belonged to each Smasher individually, although their melee training would take place among fellow Smashers to promote constructive criticism. Evenings were Marth and Roy's domain. Marth would teach the Smashers what they needed to know of their most powerful enemies, and Roy would teach them all battlefield tactics for just in case the fight ever grew to a large enough scale for their employment. When the lessons were over, the Smashers would have some free time before the sleep they would need for their early start the next day, when the process would be repeated.

Kirby flew. Fox smiled as he ran along the arena and leapt into the air to finish Kirby off, but he was met by a sonic wave emitting from Kirby's hand. It swept him across the floor he had been knocked to for a long way, but he acted fairly quickly with a back-hand-spring and got to his feet before Kirby could follow the attack up. He pulled his practice blaster from its holster and leveled it at Kirby, and the shot hit its mark. Unfortunately for Fox that mark had turned to a boulder, leaving the gun to do no damage whatsoever.

Kirby saw weakness in Fox's style, and he was quick to exploit it. When the vulpine charged again, his flabby opponent stepped to the side, throwing Fox off balance. It swung around with a hard kick, knocking him in the head and sending him on his own short flight. Fox turned angrily toward Kirby and charged again. Kirby did likewise, and their blows met evenly. They locked hands and began a power struggle that would last for several minutes...

Until they were interrupted. "Where have you been?" Peach demanded. Both Smashers released their grips and turned to the angry, reddening princess. "You missed the Smasher's meeting!"

Fox smirked. "Sorry," he stated, "I didn't get the memo."

"Wabbi?" Kirby asked with a more sincere confusion about him. Peach's anger lessened at the sound of the balloon's voice.

"Oh, very well," Peach stated, "But you'll need to know what went on regardless of your absence." And with that, she began relating the story of what went on at the most recent Smasher's convention.

When Marth returned to the administration room, Roy was waiting for him. "Hello, Marth," he said. The tone of his voice told him that he was very angry.

"What's wrong?" Marth asked.

"That's what I was going to ask," Roy responded.

"Explain," Marth demanded.

"What have you and the princesses been hiding from me?"

"I already told you why it can't be revealed, Roy," the prince responded. "We missed you at the meeting. There were many questions that were answered there."

"Then inform me," he flatly demanded, turning a fiery glance on the noble. If Marth hadn't understood his anger, the general would have been in severe trouble.

"Very well," Marth stated without hesitation, and he began to relay the information revealed at the meeting to Roy. He seemed satisfied after the tale was finished, and he left the room after a hasty apology. Marth couldn't help but laugh to himself at the youth's rash disregard for etiquette.

The T.V. sounded in Game World Hospital. "During an interesting convention of the assembly of heroes that has come to be known as the Smashers," a news anchor said, "Princess Peach relayed her plans to the rest of her team. The press was not allowed to release any information regarding the plans, which were taken in fairly well by all the Smashers, especially their most famous members, Mr. Mario Mario and his brother, Mr. Luigi Mario." That was all the nurse had to hear.

"DOCTOR!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Dr. Mario was in the room in minutes. "Look!" she shouted, pointing to the image of Mario on the T.V. screen.

"Mama mia!" Dr. Mario shouted, glancing into the room where the bandaged Mario lay. "That's 'a no-good! I'm 'a gonna be away for a whil'a! Tell a' Nurse Joy to take over while I'm 'a gone!" Without another word, Dr. Mario sped out of the hospital, hopped in his car and started driving hard toward the Game World Arena.

Well, that's chapter 13. Thanks for your reviews Roy, I'll update when the next review comes in!


	14. Espionage

Chapter 14

Espionage

Dr. Mario raced out of his car and blasted toward the arena's Grand Hall. He found his thoughts blurred this early morning by the haste the moment summoned within him. The lab coat that trailed behind him had been sparkly white a moment before, but the dust his speed was kicking up muddied it considerably.

He burst through the doors to the Smasher hall. There, to his dismay, he found Mario and Luigi sitting among the others in the Smasher group. His face burst into a radiant color of crimson rage as he approached, and his scowl even had Fox drawing back in favor of safety. "What 'a you doin'?" the Dr. asked, taking Mario by the ear and dragging him from his seat. "You not 'a ready to go out in-a-to fights, 'a yes? You come 'a back with 'a me now, eh?" He was speaking in that mafia-like tone of voice that told the plumber he didn't have a choice.

Of course, Mario was no ordinary Italian plumber. He was, in fact, Mario and was effectively the ruler of the Nintendo side of Game World. He wasn't about to take this crap from a doctor. He drew an audible gasp from the whole assembly when he slapped Dr. Mario's hands away. "Hey, you!" he shouted, his own face growing just as red with anger. "Shut up 'a you face!" He stalked toward him, and the red flush was replaced with pale fear on the Doctor's visage. "You keep 'a holing 'a me back in that 'a hospital! I'm 'a not gonna go along with it any 'a more! I've 'a got a battle to fight! You wan 'a to come along? Fine, but 'a you not gonna keep 'a me in 'a that room 'a no more!"

At this point, Dr. Mario had his back flushed against the walls. He was staring up at Mario through wide eyes. None of his patients had ever mustered the nerve to speak to him like that. It was a shame that the biggest name in Nintendo had to be the one to tell him what for, adding injury to insult. He was snapped out of his frightened stupor by the voice of Samus, smiling broadly under her visor. "He has a good idea there," she stated. "Why don't you stick around? We could use a field medic."

Of course, Fox had to put his two cents into the mix as well. "Ya," he stated as arrogantly as ever, "I might hurt these losers too badly to keep them safe in our medical quarters. We'll need a good doctor to patch them up."

Despite the glares he drew from every other Smasher in the room, Mario nodded in agreement. "Then it's 'a settled! You's 'a gonna be our 'Field 'a Medic!'" Mario pipped, drawing sounds of agreement from every other Smasher in the room. Peach, standing front and center, was the next one to speak up.

"In that case," she demanded, "May I get back to the lesson? If Dr. Mario's going to be along, he'll need to know this stuff too, ya' know?" Everybody was happy to get away from the Italian wrath of the Marios and back to the lesson at hand.

---

That afternoon was a good day for training. The Links stood at opposite ends of the arena, looking to each other with wry smirks about their faces. "You ready to learn?" Link asked his young self.

"Whenever you are," Young Link stated plainly.

"Then let's begin." He stalked to the center of the arena menacingly. Full of courage, the younger Link was not to be intimidated. Both adversaries took to a sprint at the same time, clashing in the center of their dash with a force that only a Hylian could muster. The swords clanged violently against one another, the reflection of the sunlight in their edges blinding the onlookers for a brief moment in time.

The first bout ended there, with Young Ling flying back from the force of the impact. "Lesson one," Link advised, "Know your enemy. I'm you, only older. As such, I'm also stronger. You can't beat me with a clash of blades." He smirked. "Which brings us to lesson two: Know yourself. You're small and quick – I know because I used to be you. And finally, lesson three: Use lessons one and two to figure out the best strategy to take an enemy down before the first move is ever made."

With that, he charged at Young Link a second time. The young Hylian rushed straight back at him. However, instead of going back into a clash with him, he completely sidestepped his older self's blow. As his sword sailed toward the back of his old self's legs, a gray field formed in a circle about Link's whole body; it seemed like Link was a fast learner in any time frame.

Link turned to his younger self with a smile. "Good," he said. "You've learned these beginning lessons well."

"Thanks!" Young Ling shouted, resting his sword on his shoulder and putting his shield hand on his hip. "I really am trying ha-" He was cut off abruptly by the blunt edge of Link's sword smashing into the side of his head, sending him sprawling on the floor with a very large headache.

"Lesson four," Link advised, "Never lower your guard, especially against those you think are your friends." Young Link growled as he rose and prepared for yet another bout.

---

Mr. Game and Watch was careful not to leave the shadows as he stalked through Bowzer's palace. He was treading on dangerous ground here, lurking in the lair of a far more powerful sprite then he. Even the slightest wrong move would mean certain ruin for the old-game star.

Finally, his objective came into view. It was Bowzer's office – or at least, the equivalent thereof. A throne-like seat sat before a desk cluttered with papers. It was, perhaps, the most unorganized thing he had ever seen. He dashed into the room and toward its front, looking about the mess for the thing that he needed. Little did he know he hadn't gone unseen.

He took to the clutter enthusiastically, sifting through the sheets to find what his enhanced programming saw as his purpose for existing, at the moment. Had he lips, a smile would have crossed his face as he picked up a single file and pocketed it in the black expanse of what passed for his body. He headed back for the door and through the halls, but found himself stopped by a most unwelcome set of faces at the front gate.

"Well, well, well," Nana stated, "If it isn't Mister Game And Watch himself!" She scoffed.

"I should've known you'd betray us. Pac Man won't be pleased," Popo added.

"Ice climbers!" Mr. Game And Watch shouted out. "You don't know what you're doing! Please, just stay out of my way!"

"That's really not an option for us," Popo stated plainly. "We can't let you leave this room."

"Just put down the papers and come with us peacefully. We don't want to hurt you," Nana added.

"That's not an option for me," Mr. Game And Watch stated. "Then, there's only one way to decide this." He took a ready stance, and the Ice Climbers mimicked it in their own stance.

The Ice Climbers were the first to make their move. They raced toward Mr. Game And Watch, throwing themselves at him with a rapidly sweeping hammer. He easily dodged Popo's leading blow, but was caught off guard and pounded by Nanas. He flew a few feet before skidding to a halt and looking back up. Popo was coming in again already. Mr. Game and Watch jumped up in anticipation of the blow, but was caught off guard again. The string Popo was pulling had Nana attached to it, and he flung her up into the air to smash him again, followed shortly by Popo for the follow-up.

'Today just isn't my day,' Mr. Game and Watch observed. He flipped backward and landed once more on his feet, this time determined not to be on the receiving end of the blow. He was ready when they came in again, and instead of trying to dodge Popo's blow, he countered it. He juggled the Ice Climber up and over him along with three shadowy balls. "POPO!" Nana exclaimed as she raced to his side. However, it was not to be as Mr. Game and Watch slammed a shadowy chair against Nana's forehead, sending her flying into the distance.

The scream of rage alerted Mr. Game and Watch to the charging blue Eskimo behind him. He turned in the nick of time and was catapulted above by a fireman-style trampoline. An oil can covered Popo with oil as he turned around as well, and it spread to his friend as he crashed into her. The match followed soon after, and the Ice Climbers screamed in anguish for some time before the fires burned themselves out. They struggled for a long time to get up, but neither of them could manage it.

"Now do you see?" Mr. Game and Watch asked. "I thought Bowzer and the others had the truth with them as well," he stated. "Then I met the Smashers. They showed me what it is to be a real sprite and helped me to get my new brain under control. When that happened, my powers multiplied almost overnight. They can help you do that, too! Please, just come back with me!" Nana was close to passing out by this point, but Popo still had the strength to nod in agreement. Mr. Game and Watch would have been smiling, had he lips, as he helped the Ice Climbers to their feet and helped them out the door, where the evac team from SOCOM would be waiting to pick them up.

---

Dr. Mario frantically dashed out of the way to avoid Mario's fireball. Luigi seemed to be waiting for it yet again, and he was forced to slide beneath him to avoid the rising fists of the green-clad plumber. He had been ready for Mario to appear seemingly out of nowhere right behind him yet again, and was prepared for his counter. A megavitamin flew from the sleeve of his coat, connecting solidly with Mario's head.

"Oww," Mario whined as he fell back to the ground. Dr. Mario couldn't waste time; he was still in a real match, after all. He rushed to the falling Mario and landed a spinning side-kick on the small of his back. However, Luigi was there to return the favor via a flying head-bash to his stomach. It was hard to fight Mario or Luigi alone, but the Mario Brothers were overwhelming when they worked together.

The next series of events only proved that statement. Luigi followed his blow with a slide-kick, sending Dr. Mario into the air. Mario was ready for the maneuver, using a flip-kick to send the hurting doctor back to the arena's stone floor. The Mario Brothers converged quickly on the spot, but Dr. Mario bounded up and out of the way at the last minute, leaving the brothers to crash into each other.

"That's enough, boys," a girlish voice stated from the sidelines. It was Peach, smiling as always at the successful bouts these Marios were having. "It seems they'll make a fighter out of you yet, doctor." She gave a wink to the three of them before heading back to the Smasher Hall, where Link, Young Link and Zelda had been waiting since the end of their bout.

---

There you go! Chapter 14 is finally finished. I still haven't fixed those errors I was going to, but I'll get to that eventually. Chapter 15 is on its way, so please keep the reviews coming!


	15. The Threat

Chapter 15

The Threat

Dr. Mario snuck through the halls. He had to find Peach quickly and speak with her alone. He knew the secret of Mario, and he had to make sure she was aware of it as well. That would clear up a lot for her, he thought, and allow her to proceed with her plans far more easily. Normally, the medicine man wouldn't have been putting himself at risk like this, but there were far larger things then him going on here.

Finally, he found her. She was sitting at the edge of the fountain, dipping her hand gently in the water as she contemplated the next move. The afternoon sunlight streaked through her golden hair, adding to the brilliant accent of her pink dress. Of course, Dr. Mario thought she looked absolutely beautiful, but she was Mario's now, and he couldn't stand in the way of that.

A hand gripped the back of his neck as he began to approach and pulled him behind a corner. As he turned to see who it was, he found a hand clasped over his mouth. He stared fearfully into the face of Mario, who had a sadistically evil grin plastered across his face. He spoke to Dr. Mario, but the voice was far too deep to be his own.

"All you suspect," he informed the doctor, releasing him from his grip, "Is true."

"You's 'a gonna be done," the Doctor stated matter-of-factly. "I'm 'a gonna tell the princess about everything."

Mario's deep voice chuckled at the Doctor. "You do that," he taunted, "And see how quickly I destroy everything – and every one – precious to you." Dr. Mario had no words, so the false Mario continued. "That's right," he stated. "You rat on me, I kill your princess, destroy your castle and your kingdom, and you will be the first one to witness the destruction wrought by my hand."

"You's a monster," Dr. Mario whispered.

"Indeed," Mario stated, "The worst kind.

Falco aimed a swift kick at DK's temple. The giant ape caught his foot, however, and sent him flying up and over his head in the opposite direction. The birdman landed on his agile feet and began another charge toward DK, intent on finishing the beast with his next attack.

DK wasn't happy about the speed this one possessed. He was far too quick for comfort, and his bulk was doing very little to help him deal with it. He was slow, due to all his muscles, and all he could hope for was that his powerful attacks would finish Falco before he could weave too many in.

With this plan in mind, he slammed the ground with his open palms, sending the bird off balance and into the air. He quickly jumped up after him, but was met by a stiff leg smashing into his forehead. The large ape landed on his back, and soon found Falco's knee driving painfully into his stomach. Angered, he clapped his open palms over Falco's head, sending a ringing pain through the bird man as could plainly be seen by the look on his face. Not losing a moment, DK grabbed him by the head, dashed toward the edge of the arena and threw him out of it. Falco slammed into the wall, but was quick to recover. A burst of flame sent him back into the stone arena before his feet ever touched the ground.

"You're trying to be too strong," Fox told him from the sidelines. "You've got to take more advantage of your speed or the monkey will walk all over you all day long."

"I know!" Falco snapped, but in his heart, he knew it wasn't true. He wanted to overpower DK now and again and then a third time, just to prove to himself that he was that strong. He was now sure, however, that the plan had already failed, and his sight only confirmed the thought as he looked into DK's grinning face. He leapt toward him again, and as DK aimed a fist toward him, he created a diamond-shaped field of energy about him. The fist bounced off as the impact sent pain shooting up DK's arm, and Falco took advantage of the moment to weave inside for a swift kick to the chin.

DK smashed downward in retaliation, but caught only stone as Falco quickly leapt out of the way. The next spout of pain he felt was at his back as Falco dug into it with his extended heel. He swerved about with a sweeping backhand to catch him, but the bird had already moved out of the way. The next blow came to DK's side, a burst of fire blasting him from his position and toward the edge of the arena. "That's the way to do it!" Fox encouraged him, "That's why Team Fox is the greatest!"

Falco had a broad smile on his face as he looked back to Fox, giving the Victory sign. However, Fox seemed a bit less enthusiastic as he frantically pointed back toward DK. Falco turned an instant too late as his whole middle was caught in DK's grasp. He felt his innards trying to collapse on him as DK squeezed the life out of him, then only a painful release as he was thrown to the dirt outside the arena.

"Arrogance," Samus stated amusedly, "Is as big a fault in you as it is in the Fox." Both of Team Fox's players scowled at her, but the entire remainder of the Smashers in the area couldn't help but nod in agreement.

The Links could see that Zelda's smile was genuine as Mr. Game and Watch helped the Ice Climbers out of the chopper and toward the medical quarters. Nana and Popo both seemed to be in pretty bad shape, and she could only imagine what Mr. Game and Watch had done to put them in it. Regardless another two Smashers was never a bad thing, and she could only offer commendations to the shadowy construct for his fine work. However, Link beat her to it.

"I didn't know you had been officially welcomed to the group yet," he stated happily. "Let me be the first to welcome you." He extended a hand to shake Mr. Game and Watch's, and was ultimately surprised when he was handed a file casing as well. "What's this then?" he asked himself more then anybody else.

"That's mine," Zelda stated quickly. She moved toward Link to take it from him, seeming to glide more then walk. Grace was in her every move even as she did so simple a thing as taking the file from Mr. Game and Watch and retreating to her tent to look those files over. Link's stare never left her until the tent flap covered her form from his view.

"She's got you _whipped!_" Mr. Game and Watch teased, not failing to notice his fixation.

"No!" Link said defensively, whirling around to face Mr. Game and Watch. "I cannot be made to this 'Whipped' status you speak of!"

"Ah, but you can," the shadow stated plainly. "I've just seen it in your eyes as you watched the Princess."

"Be silent," Link resentfully commanded. "Help your old friends to the medical quarters, if you have nothing else to do." He didn't know why he was getting so defensive about this. He had openly admitted to Zelda that he was in love, so why should he be ashamed to say that in public? Perhaps there was more to his feelings then he knew.

"You'll come around," Mr. Game and Watch promised. And with that, he did exactly as he'd been told: He helped Nana and Popo to the medical tent.

Yoshi couldn't help but rack his brain over his old master. Something had changed about him, there was no doubt in his mind about that. He just couldn't put his tail on it. Outwardly, he appeared to be the same. No alterations had been made to his form, and he displayed no personality quirks that weren't there before. Why, then, did he feel that he mistrusted him so much now? And why did everybody else seem to mistrust him as well? Something was odd, and the dinosaur resolved right there and then to discover what.

He ran into Kirby on his way back to the room for his snack. The encounter snapped him out of his thoughts and back into the present. Seeing the ever-hungry puffball reminded him: They'd never settled their arena match. When, then, would the bout finally be settled? It didn't matter, Yoshi supposed, as there were bigger things then their match going on.

The following section has been translated for both the author's and reader's convenience.

"Yo, wussup my homie?" Kirby inquired.

"Not a whole lot, honestly," Yoshi responded, slightly amused by Kirby's attempt to sound ghetto. He'd never been successful with it, mostly because he tried too hard.

"We never finished our last fight," the puff reminded him with a smirk. His grin was indeed a wide one.

"There are bigger things going on now," Yoshi stated plainly.

"Ya, like Mario," Kirby commented. "That guy's been acting strange lately." At this, Yoshi's eyes grew wide. So, it wasn't just him. Other people were noticing it, too.

"How so?" Yoshi asked sincerely.

"Can't put my finger on it," Kirby stated off-handedly. "Something's definitely wrong, though, I don't trust 'em." Yoshi didn't respond. "Well," Kirby called as he started moving again, "I'll see ya' later. I've got a pizza with my name written in anchovies all over it." Yoshi chuckled and gave a short "Bye" before heading off himself.

It was a starry night as Roy stood alone in the conference room. A lot had happened in the past couple of weeks, and he wasn't sure if he could handle all of it alone. According to Marth, he had to be on guard, because somewhere among the Smashers, there was an imposter. But, if somebody had the ability to suddenly take a Smasher's place without much effort or consequence to himself, how could he hope to stand up to the beast in their inevitable meeting?

Of course he knew he wasn't truly alone in this. Marth, Zelda and Peach were some of the ones he could still trust, but according to them, nobody else, including Roy, was able to be. He hated having to second-guess everybody in the Smashers group, and he hated that they weren't shaking down the ranks to find this imposter and deal with him. According to the royalty, though, that would have little affect, save to alert the imposter to their knowledge of his existence. And that, Marth had stated, would have dire consequences.

Mario smirked at the edge of the forest as he saw the golden sparks flying in the air, the signal that his men were ready. He sent up the red sparks he'd been using to imitate Mario's fire attack – the signal for them to begin their assault. Without missing a beat, he ran back indoors to complete the façade that would secure his position with the Smashers. And just before there destruction, too. It was a shame, really. He was just beginning to like playing with them.

Roy breathed a sigh of relief as the first of the Smashers walked through the door. He turned to see who it was, staring into the face of Link of Hyrule. "What are you doing here?" he playfully asked. "You're the champion of Hyrule! I didn't see you needing instruction in battlefield tactics."

"I'm just that, Roy," Link began explaining, "A Champion. I'm not a general. When I fight the enemies of Hyrule, I don't do it with vast armies under my command. I do it with a sword in my hand and a shield on my arm. I'm a powerful warrior, not a clever commander, and I need you to realize that if I'm to learn anything here."

At that, Roy smirked. "You've got courage," Roy stated, "I see that in every battle you fight. And you're clever, too, if stories of your exploits ring true." He approached the Hylian and patted him on the shoulder. "We'll make a fine General out of you yet," he stated.

"Your confidence is truly inspiring," a third voice cooed from the rear of the room. It was Marth, leaning casually against the back wall. Somehow, Roy was the only one surprised at his presence.

"How long have you been there?" he asked.

"A long time," the reply came. "It's disturbing to me, watching you rack your brain over matters beyond your control."

"They shouldn't be beyond my control," Roy stated bitterly, "Or anybody else's, for that matter." He was looking back out the window a moment later, lost once again in his deep thought.

At that instant, Mario burst through the door. "We've 'a got 'a trouble in the main 'a grounds!" he shouted out.

There you have it, Chapter 15. R&R, please, I love to hear what you guys think of my work.


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